Dimensional Descent

Though it was impossible to see with Little Tolly covering his face, Leonel’s gaze had lit up like a Christmas tree. Libli’s arm was the most complex piece of machinery he had ever laid his eyes on.

Though Leonel could probably say the dictionary was more complex, he had never personally opened it up to see just what its inner workings looked like. However, this arm and especially the Radix Cube made Leonel feel as though he was a kid in a candy store, a reaction even he, himself, hadn’t quite expected.

Leonel didn’t know when Crafting for him had gone from something he just did to beat his father at to something he loved to this extent, but it had to be said that even he was surprised by this change. Though, it might just be that his love for cool uniforms and things had spilled over…. Because, no matter how much he disliked Libli trying to take Tolliver away from him, he couldn’t deny that her metallic arm… Was indeed pretty fucking cool.

Libli’s arm twisted and moved in all sorts of unique ways. Though it appeared to only had three main joints—the shoulder, the elbow and the wrist—much like every other arm, its degrees of freedom were enormous. And, somehow, despite its size in comparison to Libli’s petite body, she seemed completely unaffected.

What was most shocking about this though was the second Radix family member, realizing that Libli was getting serious, acted quickly as well, taking out a Radix Cube of their own, and, rather than attaching a single arm to themselves, their Radix Cube fused into their bodies to form an entire armor as though they had become a mech.

Leonel could tell with a single glance that this person following behind Libli didn’t have a Radix Cube even a tenth as complex as hers. But, it still filled Leonel with awe.

Very soon, though, Leonel wasn’t able to continue to casually spectate.

Libli stretched her free arm toward her Radix Cube, causing it to be coated in another arm as well. However, this one was far smaller and sleeker. It clung to Libli’s small arms like a second skin and almost seemed harmless… Until Libli pointed it toward Leonel, that is.

All the hairs on the back of Leonel’s neck stood tall.

”Stay back.” Libli said plainly to the others. ”This isn’t a fight you can take part in. Go wake that fool up and tell him to stop being so useless.”

Even as Libli’s words fell, a beam of bronze light tore toward Leonel, leaving him at a loss. Not only could he not tell what kind of Force was coming his way, but it was actually so fast that his Internal Sight almost failed to lock onto it.

Leonel’s body curled backward in an arch, the beam just barely missing his chin. But, by the time he tried to recover, Libli had already acted again.

Her large steam punk arm whipped downward almost in a mock gorilla’s pounce. It was so large in comparison to her body that its palm easily smashed against the ground even without her bending down. It propelled her forward with such speed that she had already appeared above Leonel even before the ground she smashed against registered the impact and shattered into countless pieces.

Leonel’s pupils constricted. The shadow of Libli’s gorilla arm swinging downward toward him was ominous in and of itself. But, the wind pressure was so great in addition to that that he was nearly forced flat onto the ground, Little Tolly distorting slightly beneath her might.

Leonel quickly rolled to the side but the impact was far greater than anything he could have expected.

BANG! BANG!

The forearm of Libli’s gorilla arm suddenly twisted and pulsed. The result was Libli’s single smash registering like two as though she had layered two strikes atop of one another. 

The pressure blasted against Leonel’s back, catching him off guard. Little Tolly was blasted apart, revealing the skin of Leonel’s back and sending him flying dozens of meters.

*Bloop*Bloop*

Leonel’s expression changed. The impact was only enough to redden his back a little and maybe bruise him a bit. But, blasting apart Little Tolly was a different matter entirely.

Little Tolly was most Spirit as such the little guy could separate into many pieces and even change form at will. However, this didn’t mean that the little one couldn’t be hurt, which was why Leonel panicked.

’Thank god…’ Leonel sighed a breath of relief.

Luckily, Libli’s strike was a normal physical attack. So, though it blasted through Little Tolly, it didn’t harm the little guy. It was only then that Leonel felt like he could breathe easy.

Leonel slowly stood to his feet. It seemed he had been a bit careless.

It was well known in the Dimensional Verse that a battle with Force Crafters would be the most unpredictable, and though he had been aware of this, he had still been caught off guard. There was no telling what other hidden mechanisms Libli could have within her arms.

’Alright, fair play…’ A L L-N O V E L-F ULL

Leonel took a deep breath, putting Little Tolly away and gripping his fists.

His aura blazed, Bronze Runes racing into existence across his body as his halo expanded and descended to his feet. As his halo rose up, a brilliant silver armor coated him from head to toe, his demeanor completely changing.

He grasped at the air, a spear of black wood appearing in his hands as he faced Libli. Her Radix Cube continued to hover before her, her eyes having narrowed into near slits.

She didn’t care about having seen Leonel’s naked body, but what she did care about was the glimpse of his face.

”You… You’re Leonel Morales. I see… So you’re from Earth. That makes things more interesting.”

For the first time, Libli’s face showed something other than indifference even as Leonel’s head was slowly covered by a silver helmet. News had been spreading rapidly about this fugitive, but Libli still found it more interesting that he was from Earth.

That said, Leonel didn’t seem to care, his body flashing forward. He needed to end this quickly.