MERE MORTALS

"Are you sure?" The voice asked. "I doubt that everyone in your family has perished. They will be swept up in this matter as well, especially those of the junior generation. I can allow you some time to return and handle what you must."

"No," Cynthia said, quite curtly.

She couldn't return, there would be no point. So long as Leonel had the support of the Morales territory, she would be sending herself to death.

With the experts of the various territories mostly dead, there was nothing that could be done to change the situation, and she wasn't yet strong enough to cover the skies with a hand. On top of that, the smaller the population of experts, the faster the territories that Leonel had conquered would be assimilated.

Just in this brief conversation, several months would have passed. If she took the time to send herself in, it might even be years. By that point, Leonel would be even stronger than he was now and he might have already conquered the entire Incomplete World.

If that happened, she wouldn't just be sending herself to death, she was sending herself in to be absolutely humiliated.

She had already experienced that once, she would not experience it again.

"Your family will be unlikely to be treated well," the voice continued, trying just one last time.

In truth, they felt quite bad. Not long ago, they had told Cynthia that just a single person couldn't overturn things in an Incomplete World, especially not after making an enemy out of everyone, but the situation flipped on its head seconds later.

They would prefer if Cynthia had warm and good emotions about them instead of potentially holding a grudge. But after Cynthia spoke again... she could only let the matter go.

"Those that I bring here won't be able to survive. They'll live out terrible existences and always be under the thumb of another. I, myself, am not powerful enough to shield them, in fact, I might be the reason they were instead targeted.

"Only those among them that have the strength to climb up on their own and survive the coming trial should come. The rest of them... I would have preferred if they could have stayed in the Incomplete World, but I understand that that won't be possible.

"A, hopefully, quick and swift death is the best thing I can afford those who are not prepared."

She hadn't been here for long, not even mere moments, but she had already sensed many things.

The suppression in this world was greater than even the Void Battlefield. Anyone just born in this environment would be countless times stronger.

And she was very much correct. When Leonel first entered the Vast Bubble, he hadn't even been able to defeat those that lived in the outskirts in tribes and small clans. Any one of those people, if placed in the Void Palace, would be guaranteed to become a Domain Ranked disciple.

Cynthia's words were cruel, but they were the harsh reality.

"... While you do that, though," Cynthia suddenly said when the voice thought she was finished. "This should be the Cataclysm Zone that the youths of my world were sent to, correct? In that case, you should have some information on him, no? Can I have that?"

Mauve looked out into this distance, still standing within the Godlen garden. From time to time, he would mumble something unintelligible beneath his breath and then shake his head in exasperation.

"It's time to go," Matriarch Pyius' voice drifted over.

Mauve frowned. "Are we really going to go, just like this? I've yet to teach that brat a lesson."

"How old are you?"

"Fuck you."

"I guess I should report this sort of insubordination. You've gotten too free and loose with your tongue."

"Did you just forget that I'm your elder brother?" Mauve asked with exasperation.

"You look like you should be my grandfather instead, but you act like you're my son."

Mauve ran a hand down his face. "This is what I get for volunteering to come to this godforsaken, time-dilated, shit hole."

"I would have volunteered myself if I knew you would waste our efforts like this. Come, there's no time to lose. Not every plan can go perfectly, and it's time that we return.

"You'll have your chance to get back at the child. After all, without us, even if he does defy all odds and places first among all these Incomplete Worlds, how will he survive?

"The Dream Pavilion and the Cult have lost quite heavily at his hands. They won't let him survive without a heavy price."

Mauve's eyes lit up when he heard this. Indeed, there would be a chance after all. He barely stopped himself from rubbing his hands together when he thought about Leonel being forced to ask for his help.

Well... it wouldn't be his help, but rather the help of the Godlen family. But, that was just semantics.

Leonel shook his head. Maybe he had been a bit anxious, those Tier 1 materials could have been useful. Well, it was fine even if everything else was destroyed so long as their Fusion Cores were still fine. With them, he would be able to do everything he needed to.From .

And that he did. Leonel didn't know exactly what was coming, but his goal stayed the same. Once he finished consolidating matters in the Human Domain, he would march onto the other Domains.

What he didn't know was that he wouldn't even get the chance.

Not even a day later, Leonel received a message. To his shock, it was actually from his grandfather, Emperor Fawkes.

Leonel had been avoiding the topic of Earth for a while now. On one hand, he wanted to unify the Human Domain, but on the other, he didn't know if his grandfather would just hand Earth to him and he also didn't know how he felt about waging war against his own kin.

When he entered the Ascension Empire's Palace for the first time in a long while, he found his grandfather waiting.

However, he didn't even get a chance to speak before the whole Dimensional Verse rumbled as though it might split at the seams.

"Prepare for combat, mere mortals. Fight for a chance to serve the Gods."

A voice blanketed reality itself, seeping into their very pores.