SUCCUBUS

Leonel closed his eyes. It was worse than just annoyance, he actually felt quite angry right now. It wasn't rational, but these sort of things never tended to be.

What right did these people have to come back to life when he had still not found a way to do the same for his father?

He took deep breaths, the wind in the surroundings swirling widely. 'Breathe.'

Leonel suddenly sensed several maleficent intents bearing down on him.

His eyes opened and the Life Tablet trembled. Most before him fell to a knee, completely unable to resist the sudden change.

He put a hand on his forehead and walked away. If he stayed here, he really would end up killing these people.

Of them, maybe only Anya deserved it. Although he was very dissatisfied with Seltin as well, he had mellowed out since then. Her offense wasn't truly worthy of death either.

But if these people started poking and prodding at his temper when he was already in a poor state, he'd probably end up doing something he regretted.

His grandfather's words were that the Cult was useful. How could they be useful if they were dead?

So he walked away, ignoring the kneeling people entirely as he began to walk through the world itself, trying to see what was so special about it.

As the minutes ticked by, his annoyance slowly faded and he shook his head. A sigh left his lips as he looked up.

He was unwilling to give up. He was unwilling to give up on his father, unwilling to resign his mother to a fate of being alone, unwilling to allow the rules of this world to dictate his actions...

Everything he learned seemed to make his wishes harder and harder, impossible, even. Seeing these people alive hit him in a place he didn't even want to consider before. In a way, the fact he had killed them himself was the worst sort of slap to the face.

Those he wanted to stay dead would be alive.

Those he wanted to be alive would stay dead.

What a fantastic world this was.

Leonel strolled to the point he couldn't even see those kneeling figures. Even so, he was quite certain that they were still under his suppression. The amount of control the Life Tablet had over the Northern Star Lineage Factor was almost eerie...

But if he thought about it, maybe it wasn't quite so normal for the Life Tablet to be claimed.

Mo''Lexi was probably a Wise Star Order, she should also be able to easily move in and out of the Dream Pavilion as well even if she didn't join them. But she had never been able to claim the Life Tablet for herself.

Of course, there was a possibility that this was just due to King's existence. But in this case, what had stopped her for so long after his death?

Now, she had mysteriously disappeared and...

Leonel looked up and found a sobering sight.

In the statue of a Shadow Tail, a beast with a wild and amorphous form, so large that it could consume a planet and so ethereal it seemed both real and not at the same time.

It was said that laying eyes upon a God Beast of Destruction could kill you. Although laying eyes upon an Envoy of Destruction wasn't nearly as dangerous, it was still a substantial risk in and of itself as well... even if it was just a depiction.

But Leonel felt nothing. Material © .

A flash of lightning suddenly blazed by Leonel's side and the spark formed a familiar beauty.

Leonel smiled.

"You seem to like this new form of movement a lot."

"You don't like it?"

"Who said that?" Leonel chuckled. "I get a vampire, succubus wife. Five year old me would be squealing."

Aina laughed, taking Leonel's hand as she looked around.

"What's going on here?"

Leonel sighed. "More bullshit, unfortunately. I just don't quite know how deep it goes."

"Hm?"

"I met a Nomad that took part in the selection, and somehow he had a Lineage Factor only humans should be able to unlock. Then, I found out he had ties with a God.

"That said Lineage Factor is the very one the people the Three Finger Cult use, and it was supposedly founded by the Demoness, King and the Silver Emperor.

"But at least two of those founders don't make any sense given what we know. So I have a feeling that the story told to appease the Dimensional Verse likely isn't the true story, and it might be the case that there were two other founders we aren't aware of, or it might be the case that the "three" in their name refers to something entirely different.

"There's also the chance that Nomad and Zoltene have nothing to do with the Three Finger Cult at all and there are instead multiple forces at play.

"Ultimately, it's all nonsense. More multi-layered, historical crap that means next to nothing."

Aina smiled, knowing that Leonel's frustration had nothing to do with trying to figure all of this out. She knew her husband well, what he liked to do the most was figure out things... especially when that happened to be something no one else could figure out.

She leaned her head into his shoulder as she listened to his rant.

Eventually, he exhaled.

"The reality is that there are probably multiple factions at play here, multiple people who want to take what remains of the Envoys and forge them into their own image, and humans just happen to be a convenient pawn toward that end.

"Did you find any Invalids?" Leonel suddenly asked.

"No. I didn't see any of them."

Leonel's eyes narrowed. Could it be that there had only been one and he killed it in that explosion? Or was there a pipeline that sent Invalids out of here. Or more accurately, Variant Invalids.

"There's no one around," Aina said, blinking innocently.

Leonel blinked. "Are you trying to seduce me while we're in the middle of war?"

"Yes." Aina nodded seriously.

"Succubus, indeed."

Leonel grinned and swept his vampire-succubus up.