CRIMSON TATTOOS

After a few seconds, Leonel raised an eyebrow.

"It... created this," Leonel suddenly said in a voice that was almost a whisper.

"Created?"

"Yes. I don't believe that this technique was just floating around in there. I believe the reason the Gathering Stele so rarely hands things out nowadays isn't because it's running out of treasures to give, but rather because it's running out of energy to create these treasures in the first place.

"If this technique already existed, there was no way it would only come to light now... I mean, unless it was severely suppressed by the 'Gods.'

"If I'm correct, it probably used you as a template to create this technique. You've opened up the path for this on your own.

"The Gather Stele treasures are always perfectly tailored to the people they're given to, and in this case, this is another perfect example of that. But it's also a shame..."

Aina smiled, understanding what Leonel meant.

This treasure was designed for the elevation of humanity as a whole. All things considered, it was very useful for Aina herself. If anything, it was quite useless to her.

In this way, it was a bit of a shame. But honestly, Aina didn't mind. She really couldn't think of a treasure that she would bend over backwards for, unless it was one that could allow her to use her Blood Sovereignty freely without being exposed.

Leonel looked down at the carnage below and sighed.

"Alright, we do have a few things to do."

"Make babies?" Aina asked with a bright smile.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing poking around in my brain?" Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.

Aina laughed. "I think we should wait until everyone is united. Wouldn't it be nice to have children at the same time?"

"I agree," Leonel nodded.

There were layers to this. Even if Raj and Joel united with Yuri and Savahn, it didn't necessarily mean that their relationships were at the same stage as Aina and Leonel's. It seemed it would take some time.

But the newlyweds were definitely on the same page.

The world would never be perfectly safe. Nothing would ever be entirely ideal. They were already tired of stalling their happiness for a world that would never give them the same attention that they gave it. In that case, they would forge their own happiness with their own hands.

And, of course, Leonel hadn't actually been thinking about baby making just now. There was something else of much more importance that they had to do now, and that was to prepare for the fallout of the Gathering of Kingdoms tournament.

Carrying Aina, Leonel used the Segmented Cube's shuttle form to return to the Dream Pavilion with haste. Then, he checked on some things.

'Hm?'

The Crafted Dream Pavilion was currently ranked 221st.

Leonel noticed this immediately. As much as Minerva was paying attention to him, he was paying attention to her as well.

'In the past, they were only ranked 529th, but now they were obsessed with rank all of a sudden?'

Leonel sneered.

That woman was very arrogant, and she was even very talented, but she wasn't very smart. Leonel could see through her intentions in an instant.

'You spend so long suppressing yourself in the 500's, but then suddenly make such a large push. It's obvious you're aiming for a top 100 spot so you can find the location of this Dream Pavilion.'

Maybe Minerva was already aware that he might be able to guess this, and she probably thought that it didn't matter whether he guessed it or not.

She was right, in part. There was nothing that Leonel could do to stop her from accumulating merits, and it also wasn't like he could just intercept their missions either. They were too powerful for him to clash with, at least not head on.

On top of that, most of the defenses of a Dream Pavilion, at least the ones he had access to, were useless against a fellow Dream Force expert. He might have a chance if his Dream Force was stronger than Minerva's, but that woman was beyond him. Leonel didn't know about her recent breakthrough either, but even if he did, it wouldn't change this fact anyway.

'It seems they'll turn their attention here soon... But the me of now isn't the me of back then... I wonder, though... what will come first?'

...

Spectral Minor Bubble. A World of Beasts.

ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!

There was a dense gloominess in the atmosphere. Roars filled the skies as a familiar white tiger lay as nothing more than a corpse before them.

The fury was palpable, and at the forefront, there was an old white tiger, a looming presence with a ghastly scar cut across one eye and a gash in low maw that hadn't properly healed in centuries.

Silvan was their best talent in a long while, and he died like a dog instead of the mighty tiger king he was.

Alaric, the old white tiger, was the only one that hadn't joined into the roars. But space flashed around him and his tail as though streaks of silver lightning, crackling with menace.

Suddenly, the old tiger's head snapped up as the wind kicked in.

BANG!

A finger descended from the skies, one that made the mournful tigers fall into silence in an instance. It was a giant man, standing at three meters tall alone and having a belly as solid and round as an iron wok. Despite his obesity, his muscles bulged like tendrils of steel, rippling beneath his skin with a monstrous air.

However, what was the most stand-out about him were two things... the first of which being the fierce red tattoos that covered him. If Leonel had been here, it would have most definitely reminded him of the most tribal and impactful Samoan tattoos he had ever seen.

The giant man bent down and under the astonished gazes of the tigers, actually pulled Silvan's corpse in two by the jaw, shredding the dead beast apart as though strips of chicken.

The tigers watched on in horror, but none of them dared to make a sound.

The giant man pulled out a half digested left from the dead tiger's belly... or so it seemed. Upon closer inspection, the leg itself was mostly fine. Instead, it was the tiger's flesh that had melted and rotted around it, not to mention the other undigested food within, giving the leg a grotesque and disgusting appearance.

Even so, the giant man sniffed again, causing the raging wind from before to kick up with even more fervor.

There was an intoxicated expression on his face, one filled with the illest sorts of perversions.

He unleashed a billow into the skies, his crimson tattoos lighting up as the Forces of the world seemed to boil beneath his presence.

The tiger corpse he had neglected beneath him shattered into a rain of blood and gore, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest...

And maybe that was because his second notable feature were the white orbs of his eyes.