WICKED

Leonel was taken aback by Little Blackstar's strength. The little guy was still in the Seventh Dimension, and hadn't even moved up in Tiers. Though Leonel had known that the Shadow Tail would have a huge positive impact on Little Blackstar, he didn't expect it to be this much.Material © .

The truly shocking thing wasn't really the power Blackstar showed. This was still relatively close to his previous strength. What truly impressed Leonel was two things. First the sheer ease, and second the method of Force control.

Blackstar had output a level of strength that was comparable to the Blackstar that Leonel remembered, but the difference was that there was no effort to it. It was the equivalent of a stroll in the park. If Leonel had to make a guess about the level of effort, it probably wouldn't have been more than 10%.

As for his Force control, it was less about Force Manipulation, and far more about technique, Style and effectiveness. Though Leonel was sure that Little Blackstar's Force Manipulation had undergone a change, it wasn't what stood out to him the most.

The way he manipulated his Dark Force to ebb and flow like fog when he needed to, only to instantly snap it into a physical form no less sharp than a blade. Or how he seemed to so easily phase in and out of the Shadow World, moving freely and ignoring even the Force infused attacks of his enemies. Or how his sudden Force output and explosive instantaneous strength was enough to go from no movement, to the enormous crater that was below them now...

Each one was the mark of a true expert, but Little Blackstar-mostly due to Leonel-hadn't truly fought that many battles, if he was honest.

"Yip! Yip!"

Little Blackstar blinked into existence above Leoenl's shoulder and patted his head for extra good measure, as though to make sure that Leonel knew that he was there.

Leonel chuckled and reached up to scratch the little guy's head. Well, this made things a lot easier on him. He could let Blackstar protect him for now while he got his body in order again.

The duo continued to travel forward and Leonel really felt reassured to leave things to the little guy.

In the past, it had taken a great deal of effort for Little Blackstar to take Leonel into his incorporeal state along with him, but now, although it wasn't necessarily easy, it wasn't nearly as strenuous.

Of course, the only reason Leonel knew this was because the little guy loved to be playful. They hadn't encountered a situation where this was a necessary maneuver, but Little Blackstar had only done it to show off.

It gave Leonel quite a scare when he thought the little guy had messed up, and Blackstar seemed to have his own little hoot about that.

What was interesting, though, was that after making that attempt, Leonel noticed the Tolliver, who was still a sleeve of silver and gold on his left arm, hadn't been phased in with him.

There were two explanations for this. Either Little Blackstar could, or the little one was still enjoying his rivalry with the little Metal Spirit and purposely didn't bring it along for the joy ride.

Leonel chuckled and felt that it didn't matter much. Honestly, he didn't know what it would even take to harm Tolliver at this point. It wasn't that the Metal Spirit was immune to everything, but rather that its Life Force was unending and undying even if it was blasted to pieces, it wouldn't make a lick of difference.

The Nomad Dimensional Verse found themselves being slaughtered, but Leonel still found it curious. Were they simply this weak? Or was there something else going on?

...

Alpha Clown stood across from an existence barely a quarter of his height. He was used to being the largest in a comparison of two, but even so, a person that was only a single meter tall was truly an anomaly, especially when this person was of the Nomad Race and not the Dwarven Race.

"No need to look so shocked," the Nomad youth chuckled. "My family's Lineage Factor is quite unique, albeit quite annoying to use. My Nomad Race has a fondness for following many paths, and my family's Nomadic Rebirth Lineage Factor allows us to reset our life when we've found an interesting path that we want to fuse into our own understanding. The more rebirths we undergo, usually, the stronger we are. Though, the requirements for paths interesting enough to make us suffer through such a thing only get greater with every attempt."

The Nomad youth chuckled once again. "This is why I look like an eight year old youth, don't mind it, don't mind it."

"You're quite forthcoming with your secrets," Alpha Clown said with a sneer.

"And why not? Will it make a difference to me whether you know of this Lineage Factor or not?"

"Maybe," Alpha Clown grinned. "After all, in my Beastman Dimensional Verse, we all share just a single Lineage Factor, the Beastman Lineage Factor. It allows us to consume blood and incorporate it into our path. Usually, we only do so with beasts, but..."

Alpha Clown took a step forward, his aura bearing down.

"Oh my," The Nomad youth chuckled, not seemingly the least bit intimidated, "that is an interesting Lineage Factor indeed. I wonder what sort of synergistic effects it would have for my own? It might even be worth becoming a toddler again."

Alpha Clown's sneer deepened. "It's too bad you won't have such a chance."

"Is that so? I'm not sure I agree. After all, there are so many of you, I just might succeed. My first rebirth was when I was 23 years old. My second came when I turned 47. My third when I was 63. I didn't think I would need another as the older we get, the more grueling the process. The record for success in my Rhismet Family is just 82 years old and I'm already 93, I didn't think that I would risk it.

"But you know, as the saying goes..."

The atmosphere darkened.

"... There's no rest for the Wicked."

[Author's Note: capitalized because his name is actually Wicked Rhismet. I know, I've been killing it with these names, praise me.]

The both of them vanished and the first clash was so terrible that both armies were sent flying back, unable to maintain their footing.