WHAT TO DO

Leonel sighed; at the very least, there was a bright side. He had coincidentally found an Evolution Ore Mine just a few days ago. Although it would mean stealing it from that young man, well... he didn't really have a choice, now did he?

The Reinforced Urbe Ore was a bit more troublesome, but it would be manageable so long as he refined it himself. It would be far cheaper as well, though far better if he could likewise find a mine. At that point, it would just take time and effort.

Luckily, Urbe Ore Mines were far more common than not. With Anastasia, he should have a good chance of finding one relatively quickly. He'd also have to do some analysis on the Evolution Ore mine to see if it had enough Evolution Ore. A million kilograms was far too exaggerated; it was hard to say if the mine had ten million kilograms worth.

In addition, the Fifth Dimension was just the lowest requirement, but the technique mentioned that it could be improved in the future. That meant that if Leonel could manage a higher Dimension, he should do so.

He took a breath and exhaled.

After some thought, he stood and vanished.

...

Kira sat in silence. She had been a bit aimless in the last few days. Auran had been her best friend, her elder brother, her father-figure. Now that he was gone, she didn't really know what to do.

She sensed someone land by her and she looked over to find that it was Leonel. She tried to force a smile, but tears came out of her eyes instead. She hurriedly looked away and wiped them, looking back out toward the seemingly endless ocean of Cleansing Waters before her.

She didn't really blame Leonel. Though this was the first time he had come to see her, much like everyone else she could tell that there was probably something horrible going on outside. They weren't as clueless as Leonel liked to think.

Plus, she had only met Leonel once before; it wasn't like they were extremely close or anything. Since he had something more important to do, it wasn't like she could demand his time.

"I'm sorry for not being there," Leonel finally said. "I just want you to know that if I could have been, I would have been."

Kira's eyes dimmed somewhat, and she nodded slowly. Bitter tears fell, and she hiccuped, hugging her legs to her body.

"I will make sure the person responsible pays a horrible price."

Leonel's voice remained even, and these were the last words he said for over an hour. He just sat there, listening to Kira cry. It seemed that it was only now she felt assured enough to let all those bottled-up emotions out.

It was a long while until she could slowly begin to breathe properly again.

"Come with me," Leonel said, putting a hand on Kira's shoulder.

In a flash, they appeared in a different region. Compared to the beauty of the rest of Anastasia's world, it was practically a desolate wasteland. A ring of mountains separated them from the outside world, forming a restriction of sorts, and with...

There was a world of absolute darkness.

Kira froze. She was completely shaken as she saw the two corpses that lay within, corpses that filled her with absolute despair.

No, there was a third being here, a little mink that curled up on the smaller corpse, a bubbling bundle of shadows. Even in death, this corpse seemed to still want to destroy everything around it. From time to time, an arm would slap at the little mink, but it would phase right through.

"They say that many who see the Void Beast for the first time will fall into an endless well of despair. Some die directly. Some, even after they manage to escape or extricate themselves, will still end up committing suicide. Exclusive content © by Nô(v)el/Dr/ama.Org.

"It's a bit unfair of me to bring you here, but I had a feeling that you would want to if you had the choice.

"In the past, you gave me that vial of Void Beast Blood and it helped me a great deal. Today, I'll give you this opportunity. I hope that I will see you again."

Leonel vanished.

Was it irresponsible to push this onto Kira, especially when her mind was already in a state of turmoil? Yes, he could admit that.

However, his comprehension of the complexities of the human mind had taken an enormous leap forward thanks to his Dream Sovereignty.

He believed in Kira.

...

Ramon was lost in his own world. His Metal Spirit continuously formed up the Urbe Ore in his palm and then crushed it before creating something again and then repeating.

Leonel watched from afar and sighed again. He didn't need to guess to know that Ramon had lost Valorie, his right-hand woman and presumably someone he wanted to make his wife.

He didn't look as distraught as Kira, but this sort of daze was something that Leonel was intimately familiar with. His body was moving on autopilot so that his mind wouldn't have to think about it. He was doing everything he could to try and forget it all, and yet the scene kept replaying in his mind again, and again, and again.

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Leonel asked Anastasia.

The idea that so much of the Morales family had died both filled Leonel with rage and helplessness.

"Many of them are weak, but if you're right about this being a scheme of the demoness, then her influence is all over this. It's hard to say if it would be just as easy due to that."

Anastasia had been technically able to reach back in time and resurrect Aina's mother, something she would have succeeded in had Aina not entered the Seventh Dimension, supposedly.

But then again, hadn't Aina's mother died due to higher Dimensional beings? Or was that not the case?

This matter got very complicated very quickly.

Originally, he hadn't wanted to resurrect Hutch so he wouldn't have to explain to Aina that this was possible at all, but...

'What to do...'