HERE
Leonel pulled Aina's hand and the two stepped into the teleportation circle.
"Uh, I would suggest the rest of you wait three days before using this thing again. Just to be... safe."
Leonel grinned and the Cloud Race elder running the teleportation pad trembled. Even if Leonel was just joking, he took it very seriously. In fact, he planned to close the whole thing down for the next week at the very least.
WHOOSH!
In that moment, Leonel's mind trembled and his gaze sharpened. The teleportation pad lit up, but across several Bubble Worlds, this happened as well. In fact, people who had just been about to step into their own rushed away, fear coloring their expressions as they weren't certain of what was happening.
BOOM!
The teleportation pad seemed to implode after Leonel and Aina vanished, a rush of light piercing into the skies.
The Cloud Race elder put a hand to his chest, wondering why his heart was betraying his thoughts and trying to rush out of his throat.
...
Leonel and Aina repeated this exact same action three more times until they found themselves in a world with pink clouds.
SHIIING!
To the side, several winged Knights brandished spears, pointing them toward Leonel and Aina. They hadn't personally activated the teleportation platform, nor had they gotten any signal that someone was coming from the other side. Their immediate reaction was to go on the defensive.
But the moment they brandished their spears, Leonel smiled and tapped at the air.
Suddenly, the spears in their hands crumbled to ash, taking them aback.
Spear Sovereign?!
Their hearts trembled.
One had to remember that not all Spears fell beneath Leonel's Spear Sovereignty. Weren't the treasure spears of the Spear Domain able to withstand him?
Spears of a certain caliber were always able to resist the influence of a Spear Sovereign, and that went for weapons in general.
This was the Owlan World, they were the best Crafters of the Demi-Gods even when they tried to distance themselves from the Minerva Race, this was a fact that couldn't be changed.
For their spears to fall beneath Leonel's Spear Sovereignty...
Just how profound was it.
"Is this how the Owlan Race greets its guests?" Leonel asked with a smile.
"Halt." A voice came to stop the winged Knights from following up with another attack.
By this point, Leonel's appearance had garnered a lot of attention. There was only one teleportation pad that the Owlans had opened up to the outside world, so all of the traffic was centered in this region.
In this large and grand city hall-like region, there were many youths already in the process of registering their information and there was a long line of administrative members and winged knights to keep the peace.
The one who had just spoken to stop the incoming winged knights was an older gentleman with extremely pale pink hair, so pale in fact that it almost looked white beneath the bright golden lights.
"Please," the older Owlan stretched out a hand and a wing away from Leonel and Aina, escorting them toward registration.
The winged knights looked toward each other in confusion but ultimately didn't say much.
"Yes, we'll both be participating," Leonel said with a smile.
Aina raised an internal eyebrow, but her expression was placid. She realized after Leonel said it that the Owlans were extremely strict with who they allowed into the world. If Leonel said that Aina wasn't a participant, it could go one of two ways.
Either they would force Aina to go back and use her to track the whereabouts of the Human Bubble. Or, they would find another excuse to detain her and cause trouble for Leonel.
Obviously, even if Leonel was going to be unruly, he wouldn't give the Owlans such an easy chance to make things difficult for him. Aina would just forfeit every round. © 2024.
As for using the Segmented Cube, now that Aina had appeared that was obviously impossible.
"And in which stream?"
"We'll both be taking part in the Crafter stream."
"Alright," the old man nodded. "Here are your registration tokens, they also double as a GPS to bring you to your assigned lodgings. Feel free to enjoy the accommodations and events prepared for in the city. The exchange will begin in two and a half months."
Leonel smiled and nodded, taking Aina's hand and leaving.
Watching him disappear, the older man's gaze darkened.
"Lyric, is that all you're going to do?"
An older woman appeared in a flicker. She too was dressed like a winged knight. While Lyric was in charge of administrative matters, this woman, Aurora, was in charge of the winged knights.
"No one dares to say this in front of the miss, but this child forced her to suffer a loss. We can't unilaterally act on our own. I truly didn't expect him to actually appear, but clearly this young man's arrogance knows no bounds...
"Or maybe it's just confidence. He's good and he knows it. Unless he steps out of line, dealing with him in untoward ways will just ruin our reputation. Remember that it is the Pluto Race that gave us the right to host this event. Although we are the acting host, it's only by proxy of their grace.
"We can't do anything that infringes upon our own reputation because it will infringe upon theirs. Be mindful of your actions, or else the Owlans will cease to be."
Aurora fell into silence, not responding. But her gaze did flash with a cold light as she glanced toward the direction Leonel had gone.
...
Leonel and Aina began to enjoy the city sites. They enjoyed foods they had never tasted before and even found some interesting entertainment to pass the time with.
They didn't seem to notice that they were being watched in everything they did, nor did they seem to care.
Soon, the Crafting Geniuses who hadn't participated in the Gathering of Kingdoms quickly came to know of them as well.
"Oh, they're here. Want to go see them?" Leonel asked Aina.
It seemed that Yuri and Savahn had made an appearance as well.