HE'S DEAD
Leonel found himself sitting in a room. Though, this sort of description was far too neutral, and maybe even positive, for where it really was.
It might as well have been a dungeon. There were no chains around his wrists and ankles, but it was effectively the same.
He had simply been told to wait here, in this dingy room, while something was prepared for him. He was also told that he would have to be here for a few weeks depending on his performance. As for what his task was, he was apparently meant to be a sparring partner for the youths of the Godlen family.
Well, honestly, this was just Leonel's translation. In reality, this was introduced to him as a training opportunity. He was also told that he would have to do his best to protect his life, or he might lose it.
Toward this explanation, Leonel could only chuckle.
Well, it seemed that Simona had brought him more trouble than he gave her credit for. What should have been a few weeks buffer became a steaming hot pan of frying oil.
The more the situation was like this, though, Leonel found himself becoming calmer and calmer. If it wasn't because he was still worried about his cousin and Jessica, he might have already entered a perfect state of tranquility.
Why a sparring arena instead of just directly trying to kill him? Wasn't it obvious? They wanted to see the real Leonel.
They had even sent him here with the serum still running through his veins. They were clearly hoping that it would lower his inhibitions enough that he would display his true feelings outwardly.
Leonel took note of all of this silently as the doors to the dungeon, that wasn't a dungeon, that was definitely a dungeon finally opened.
He stood without a word and stepped out.
The arena was quite empty, as one might expect from one set aside for a sparring session. The only individuals present were Simona, the young man that always followed her around, and three others that Leonel didn't recognize.
"Primrose, you'll go first," the young man by Simona said. "Remember that this is supposed to simulate real-life combat."
Primrose's figure flickered and vanished, appearing 20 or so meters away from Leonel. The sand and dirt in the arena kicked up before settling down slowly.
Primrose's head tilted to the side, observing Leonel.
"He looked a bit slow," she mumbled.
Primrose looked like a little girl in a woman's body. It wasn't that this was the case literally, but rather that her face was far too overly innocent. It was like a fairy tale princess had come to life.
Her personality, though, wasn't quite the same. At the very least, she didn't flinch at the scent of blood and sweat that hung in the air, nor did she seem squeamish about battling Leonel.
Leonel looked up and met her gaze. At the moment, he seemed to have just rolled out of bed. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his pants were loose-fitting, barely hanging from his waist.
His mind, however, was as sharp as it could be.
What to do in this situation?
'Seventh Dimension. Tier 6? Ah, does it matter? She's strong. Probably stronger than any of the Ancestors of a Dimensional Verse by a decent margin. What a farce.'
He didn't know who thought of this "brilliant" plan, but what did they think they were going to get out of sending a Seventh Dimensional genius after someone in the Fifth Dimension like him?
"Begin," the young man said coldly.
Primrose pouted, but at that moment, a beast seemed to manifest from nowhere. It lunged forward, attacking viciously.
Leonel barely had time to register that it was some sort of panther beast before he sighed.
BANG!
Leonel went flying. His chest exploded into a rain of blood and gore, and his bones were all shattered.
When he collided with the wall of the arena, the back of his skull was violently ripped apart in an even worse mess.
Primrose froze, as did all the other geniuses.
What the hell just happened? He was dead? Just like that?
...
In a separate space, Vivak's frown deepened.
That was it? His gaze was sharp, he had the strength of a Ninth Dimension behemoth, and he wasn't the kind of person that could be fooled easily.
It made perfect sense. Leonel was in the Fifth Dimension. What else could possibly happen when he fought someone in the Seventh?
Everything, even down to that helpless sigh Leonel released in that final moment, sounded like someone that had resigned to his fate.
...
"Unbelievable. You two had us all come down here for this? Those Incomplete World pieces of trash couldn't handle even a single strike before, even that cunt who called himself an Alpha was almost ripped to shreds. What was someone in the Fifth Dimension going to do?"
A young man named Oryan was completely disgusted by the situation; he felt that he had lost valuable training time on this.
Primrose, down below, called her beast back. Despite her cute appearance, she didn't even blink when Leonel went down.
Shaking her head, she agreed with the young man above. This really was a waste of their time.
...
A long while later, Liana came forward with a team of three men.
"Be careful. Don't miss a single drop of his blood. If it's soaked into the sand, I want it all. Put it in a separate container if you can. Try to keep him together as much as you can, I'll do the dissecting later."
Leonel's remains were brought to a new lab, one different from the original one he was brought to in the first place, before he was placed in a special container with all of his remains carefully shelved around him.
'Well,' Leonel thought, 'at least this is better than being eaten alive. Right? Right? Right.'
Leonel groaned inwardly. This pain sucked.
'Focus. Now, how do I get out of here? And what do I do about Noah?'
...
As Leonel was having these thoughts, a meeting of the higher-ups was called once again. Vivak and Mo''Lexi were caught off guard because it was about a young man they were both quite familiar with.
Imperatress Anselma appeared before them, her face somewhat pale. It was clear her injuries were still quite severe, even her makeup could do nothing to hide it.
"I'm contacting you all about a young man who calls himself Leonel Morales. I would have informed you all about this ahead of time, but I didn't believe that he would actually participate."
Anselma and many of the others familiar with Leonel thought that he might do everything in his power to avoid taking part in the selection, they even had contingencies to deal with it. They never thought that he would actually just jump headfirst into the fiery pits, and that was surprisingly what saved him... potentially.
As for why it was just potentially, that was because despite their efforts, they couldn't seem to find a pathway into the Dimensional Verse any longer. © content.
"This is a matter of utmost importance. According to our intelligence, he snatched the Emperor's Might Golden Tablet during a trial that we held. Even to this day, we aren't sure of how he did it, but we need that tablet back.
"Mo''Lexi, I've heard that he was taken under your wind. Where is he?"
Anselma had entirely changed the true reason the Four Great Families were looking for Leonel, but it didn't matter to her. As far as she was concerned, this question was good enough.
"He's dead."
Mo''Lexi and Vivak spoke simultaneously.