WEAK

2572 Weak

Leonel hadn't really been paying attention. Quite frankly, until their honeymoon officially ended, he couldn't gather the care to give a damn about what was happening in the outside world.

The only reason he was stepping into the outside world in the first place was because Miel wasn't among the number he had taken into the Segmented Cube. In fact, none of the Slayer Legion Generals were. So, he planned to take Aina out to find her father. With Anastasia's abilities, it wouldn't be too complicated. But…

He didn't expect that the entire Vast Bubble would be in a state of complete collapse.

He would have thought that it was the Vast City alone, but beyond the burning buildings, the screams of terror, and the foul acts taking place in dark alleys they believed no one would see, it felt like the entire Vast Bubble was in a similar state.

The protective, fortified cities that acted as barriers to the Demon Worlds were overrun.

At first, Leonel thought that this was because the demons had launched an all-out offensive. But there simply weren't enough demons around.

Although the fortified cities were being overrun, it was by those unranked demons that had managed to cross before the real merger. This definitely wasn't the actions of the Sun and Moon Demons.

And then he looked into the skies.

His eyes widened because there was something even his Internal Sight had picked up. It was a floating, cube-shaped stele. It was so large that there was no doubt that it was visible from across the Bubble. In fact, Leonel could vaguely feel that this Stele was visible across every world below the God Realms.

It was simple. It was an introduction to the Gathering of Kingdoms, and the reason the world was in chaos was because they had learned that, for the first time, they would have to participate.

Leonel's eyes narrowed.

There were only three ways to avoid the culling: the first was to have over 20% of your younger generation perform to an acceptable standard, meaning passing the Preliminaries; you had to have at least 100 who reached the Penultimate Round, or one who reached the Finals.

The Finals… it was a round where only 100 would make it across all participating worlds. Just what did it mean to be in the top 100 of trillions upon trillions of geniuses?

These rules had sent their Human Bubbles into a frenzy. They clearly thought that they had all been left for dead. What good was there to maintain decorum now?

This culling would test the vitality of a world and how much potential it had into the future. If your older generation had failed to make your world into a Demi-God one, then it would be up to the younger generation to do it in the future. If they couldn't match up, then what good was there for it to exist?

It was clear that Leonel's actions had stirred something. It was truly unacceptable to them that a human would claim the Life Tablet once again.

If they could've taken it themselves, they would have done so long ago. He had touched upon a taboo and they wanted to make humans pay for it.

Leonel suddenly smiled. "Getting antsy, huh?"

Aina was indifferent to the destruction below. She had never blinked in front of killing and carnage in the past like Leonel had, and she certainly didn't now.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Even so, there were a few shady figures in dark alleys who inexplicably had their heads torn off in a geyser of blood.

"So that's the tournament you mentioned?" Aina asked.

"Yup."

"Top 100? You have a lot of faith in me," she smiled.

"Of course. You'll be the only one entering, you think that's a lot of pressure?"

Aina's smile deepened. She seemed to feel some of what Leonel felt. Having someone so unconditionally believe in you… really felt good.

"So you want to be a house husband? Sending me out to fight your battles for you?" She teased.

"I prefer the term sugar daddy. Just tell me what resources you need and you'll have them. This husband of yours has fat pockets now."

"Oh no, they'll say I married for money," Aina spoke in mock horror.

"That's only because they'll never see me in bed."

Aina's laughter peeled through the skies. In the middle of the world's end, the couple didn't seem to care in the slightest.

Miel looked up into the skies solemnly. The Stele had been a great source of worry for him in the last few days. He had immediately gone to find his daughter as what he had worried about was actually happening.

If things had gone according to his plan, none of this would have ever happened. Aina would have been mistaken as a Half-Spiritual and then whisked away. But now, the Stele had already locked onto all of their auras. Everyone, including the Demons, was roped into this.

They probably thought that they'd be safe from the culling, but they never imagined that they would make things world.

Their six Bubble Worlds now counted as one, which meant the ratio of talented Demon geniuses had plummeted even further than before. Their actions in invading cosigned them to their deaths.

Miel's last-ditch effort was the Brazinger family. For the sake of his daughter, he was willing to do something his pride wouldn't allow of him, but he hadn't managed to find Aina in time.

According to his information, Leonel had actually entered the Dream Pavilion and they had triggered a Challenge.

The idea that Leonel had probably brought his daughter into the jaws of death filled him with fury, but that fury quickly became anxiety when the Four Great Families vanished into thin air before he could find a way to weather the Dream Pavilion's storm of Dream Force.

'Why am I so weak?!'

He grit his teeth hard. If only he had his former level of power, none of this would have happened.

It was then, as he watched the world fall into the pits of despair, he laid eyes on the one woman he wanted to see most.

Tears fell from his eyes as he saw Aina and Leonel walking toward him hand in hand.