STIMULATING

He didn't feel it when he first stepped onto a battlefield, he didn't feel it when he was thrust into the Dimensional Verse for the first time, he didn't even feel it when half a dozen Races invaded the Human Domain with thoughts of murder.

In fact, when he entered his first Sub-Dimensional Zone, he never feared the Mayans. His thoughts were entirely consumed by the guilt of killing. He never really feared the event itself. He hadn't even hesitated to jump into that unknown Zone on his own.

Now, though, it seemed he actually had to deal with those emotions. And quite frankly... he found it to be highly annoying.

He took a few moments to calm his thoughts and exhale a few breaths.

The Respect aspect of his Dream Force Sovereignty forced him to look at this objectively from the perspective of a mere Fourth Dimensional expert. In his current position, he had no right to face off against such an enemy, and it kept drilling that into his mind again and again, and again.

"If the Demoness was really some sort of God, then in her eyes the current Leonel was just a little plaything. Even if she was 'only' a Demi-God, he had seen the kind of power Minerva wielded. If not for her personality, Leonel would have had no path to survival in that battle."

His mind was so good at analyzing things, and now it was holding up a mirror to his nose, forcing him to look at his inferiority right in the face.

He hated it.

It felt like he was deviating from a path designed for him in favor of one that wasn't very compatible with him at all.

'Is that even true...?'

Leonel really sat and thought about it, the glass object in his hands began to reform as the pieces were pulled into his control.

"Was it that the path wasn't compatible with him? Or that he was resisting change, resisting improvement?"

He had a feeling that it was the latter.

"Even when people realized there was a problem with their demeanor, it didn't mean they would necessarily change it. Often, it just felt better to keep doing what you were doing, enjoying your own flaws because it satisfied your vanity."

"And for Leonel, he made it a long way more than most."

"Even with his arrogance, even when he didn't put much of anything in his eyes, disregarding all forms of Respect for those that were clearly far above himself... he still succeeded."

"By the time he left the Dimensional Verse, the entire Incomplete World was playing to his tune. The moment he stepped into a wider world, he had all but crushed a system of oppression set up by an alliance of Human powers far beyond himself. He had stepped into a True Martial World, faced off against three Demi-Gods, and sent them home with their wings clipped."

"Even more shocking than any of that, he had personally killed an Envoy of Destruction, a creature feared even by the Gods, with nothing more than the schemes of a mere Human."

"In a lot of ways, he was rightfully arrogant, and that fueled him all the more..."

"But to every story there were two sides."

"The entire Morales family was wiped out. He was forced to watch his father die in front of him and his mother try to keep it together. His own wife had been shredded to pieces until nothing but strewn flesh and blood was left behind."

"His brothers had died not just once, but twice while he still lived and breathed. For a third time, they had been turned into animals and reared like cattle just because of him."

"The people he had once called friend, people that he had fought side by side with in the Valiant Heart Zone, didn't even recognize him anymore. He could only watch them grow from afar, hoping that he could make their lives a little better."

"Elthor didn't say anything, but he knew that it wasn't just the Morales family that died that day. The Oryx who had put their trust in him, a small race of beings with barely a few thousand to their heritage, had been entirely wiped out, leaving just a single Elthor behind."

"It was easy for him to focus on the success, easy for him to shield himself from his failure and inject that endless pride into his blood, using it to fuel his next tirade."

"But then what would be left?"

"Would he be that soul, left all alone staring at a star that could neither kill him, nor could he kill it? Would he be alone, his brothers gone, his parents gone, his wife gone?"

Leonel found himself having these same exact thoughts more and more often.

"But they were what kept him sane, what reminded him of the reason he chose this path instead of sticking with the one he was on."

"He didn't just want to read and react to situations anymore. He didn't want to be the pawn in someone else's game."

"He wanted to be ready for anything that might happen long before it did. He wanted to be prepared."

'Ready for anything that might happen long before it did...'

As the pieces of glass began to float, Leonel's gaze became brighter and sharper. He seemed to have understood something and his perspective shifted somewhat-not a perspective toward his Dream Force, but rather his Crafting.

"It was funny, he had just had thoughts of Simulating battles so that he could read and react to the changes faster rather than waiting for them to happen first, but he had completely glossed over that thought... until now." Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

"Why wasn't he incorporating his Simulation abilities into his Crafts? How much better would he grasp Simplicity if he did so?"

The thought was so stimulating that it felt as though his mind had imploded.