DAMN

Leonel huffed in deep breaths. The good news? Because he was in the middle of his shitstorm, the Beastmen shouldn't feel that they have an easy time either, if they pursued him so far, that is. Of course, Leonel didn't have any fantasies about the matter. Someone like Alpha Clown, when he was interested in something, would pursue it to the very ends. This was what it meant to grow strong.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Even so, Leonel shook his head. This was truly ridiculous. If it wasn't for the fact most of his Lineage Factors were greatly weakened or even outright sealed in many cases, he would have long since used [Instant Recovery]. He thought about bringing out his demons to fight for him, but he had sensed great resistance when he tried to do that, and he had a feeling that if he pushed through, he would end up causing some undue attention to himself that would make the rest of this place a hassle to deal with.

'Hm?'

"Yip! Yip!"

A swirl of black appeared before Leonel, causing his eyes to open wide. Little Blackstar? Why was this little guy so... He didn't know exactly what it was, but the cluster of Little Blackstar's fur felt less... lustrous. Not in a sickly or faded sort of way, but rather in a deep abyssal black and swallowing all light sort of way. The last time he checked, Little Blackstar wasn't in anywhere near this condition. It had only been half a day, no? And even if he accounted for the time he had spent in this trial world, it had been less than two. Basically, he had only just convinced Little Blackstar to focus on the Shadow Tail just yesterday.

"How'd you become like this in a day, little guy?"

Little Blackstar's head tilted in confusion.

"A day? It's been over a year," Anastasia's voice echoed.

"What?!"

Leonel hurriedly checked his body as though to check if he had any wires coming out of him. If he had been out for a year, then those Nomads would have definitely dissected him thoroughly.

"Oh, you don't know." Anastasia seemed to have a tinge of amusement in her voice. "After your grandpa tapped your forehead, you were out cold. He took you out of the Incomplete World entirely and into an odd space. Only half a day passed to you, but in the Incomplete World, over a year passed. Whatever he did, it left me and Little Blackstar behind."

Suddenly, so many things seemed to make sense. It was no wonder he had ended up being transported without everyone else, was he even considered a participant of the Dimensional Verse? That was a good thing, though, no? It made it harder for those that wanted to track him.

But..

"Aina?!"

Leonel's heart was beating out his chest. If Blackstar experienced over a year, so had Aina.

"I wouldn't worry about her if I were you, she's doing fine."

"Fine? What do you mean? Did something happen?"

"Yes, her self-healing has already kicked in, from what I can tell. It's a bit blurry to see through the Golden Tablet and I don't want to push through in case it affects her, but her soul has already reformed. I wouldn't be surprised if she woke up soon."

"Uh..."

Leonel didn't know what to say. Wasn't he supposed to gain an Impetus State Vital Star Force understanding first? But then he remembered. It wasn't his future self that told him that, his future self hadn't explained anything. It was El'Rion that had told him that. Back then, he used his Half-Step Impetus State Vital Star Force to help bring what remained of Aina's together. He hadn't thought that Aina would be able to do the rest on her own. Leonel practically grinned ear to ear.

"Damned Pluto brat, pretending to be all knowing when- Hey!" Leonel suddenly turned his attention to Anastasia. "Was it impossible for you to explain these things before?!"

"You never asked."

"You didn't think that it would be important for me to know?!"

"You're always in your own head. You should try thinking aloud, then I'll know what you need," Anastasia harrumphed.

"Unbelievable," Leonel said speechlessly.

RUMBLE.

"Shit."

Leonel tapped into his Emulation Spatial Force, but Little Blackstar was faster. The both of them were surrounded in a swirl of black that appeared outside the cave he was hiding out in.

Standing atop the rock face of the cave, Leonel saw that there were at least a hundred Nomads below, separated into several squadrons in a perfect formation. However, Leonel was completely focused on the cute little mink in his arms.

"Well damn, little guy. You sure have gotten stronger."

"Yip! Yip!" Little Blackstar nodded, his cute little reflective black eyes, seemingly the only part of him that reflected any light at all, blinked like two large black marbles.

"Good. Well, it's your duty as my master to protect me, no. These guys are annoying."

Little Blackstar's expression became surprisingly serious as he reached out a paw and tapped Leonel's forehead twice. At first, Leonel thought that the little guy was trying to do something magical, but he only realized after a split second that this was Little Blackstar's way of patting his head.

Leonel burst into a fit of laughter as Little Blackstar vanished in a swirl of black. Carnage was unleashed. Weapons passed through Little Blackstar's body as though he was nothing more than a ghost. Tendrils of darkness erupted across the battlefield, spearing through the chests of two or three Nomads at a time. Every time Little Blackstar flickered and vanished, a swipe of his claws would cause another head to fly into the skies.

It was a one-sided slaughter, but Little Blackstar seemed to have learned well from Leonel because he wasn't finished showing off yet.

With a roar that sounded like a mighty primordial beast, completely unlike the little one's usual cute "yipping" sounds, Little Blackstar appeared high in the skies, raising a cute little paw.

Very soon, though, there was almost nothing "cute" about this paw at all.

A rush of heartrending shadows billowed forth as the paw was suddenly shrouded by a claw so large it seemed to blot out the skies. It descended, splitting wind and shattering space as it crushed the Nomads that remained into meat paste even before it landed.

Even so, Little Blackstar was committed to his bit as he pressed the claw the rest of the way down, destroying the land for the surrounding kilometer.

Leonel's eyes opened wide as he blinked a few times.

"Well, damn."