MOCK DEFEAT

Somnus smiled lightly, giving Leonel a look. He had to say that he was somewhat impressed. Leonel had yet to throw a tantrum. Though, he assumed that if looks could kill, he would have likely died ten times over. If thoughts could slaughter, he would have been skewered until his own mother wouldn't have recognized him.

Unfortunately for Leonel, it would take more than that to make him give a damn. He was a Dream Asura, there was probably someone, somewhere, cursing him at any given point in the day. In fact, he was selling himself short. Really, there was definitely more than just one person doing so at any given point.

Rather than being put off by it, he relished in the feeling. It made him feel alive.

"We challenge you in the Force Pill Crafting stream."

Somnus waved his hand through the air as though he was brushing through water. There were even slight ripples that echoed through the air as he suddenly reached into space and pulled something out.

He was a Dream Asura. He couldn't trust even his own family members, so it wasn't surprising that he had his own unique methods of hiding his things. Plus, he had come knowing that things might very well go very wrong, so he had taken much of his stolen-accumulated wealth with him.

With a pluck, he pulled out three rings.

"You said you need three items on your little list to accept a challenge, right? Well, I put forward our 28 points, and these items. Each one houses three items on your little list. The first will be a wager for the three treasures you took from my partner, the second three will be a wager for your Life Tablet, and the third third... well, that will be up to you...

"If you dare."

Somnus' smile was gentle. He didn't look like a demon at all, with otherworldly looks and an inviting gaze that made one feel at peace. It was this sort of dichotomy that made his words all the more piercing, though.

On the one hand, one's instinct seemed to be to trust him with your life. But on the other, there was a bubbling rage that made you want to skin him alive.

One couldn't be rich if no one was poor. One couldn't be happy if you didn't understand sadness. And, one couldn't feel rage if you didn't know what peace was...

Somnus seemed to play on that constantly, pushing and pulling at everyone's emotions until they wouldn't even know what to think anymore. The two feelings would form a polar opposite rush, steadily getting further and further apart from one another until they were so opposing that your mind would collapse.

It wasn't a technique that Somnus even had to use actively. He seemed to enter this sort of state passively, and when you were stuck in the middle of the whirlwind, it would feel like your life was in the palm of his hands.

"Those are the parameters for a battle of Crafting," Leonel said with a voice devoid of emotion, "a handicap I gave you pathetic excuses for geniuses. Can't understand something so simple?"

Somnus' smile curled. Indeed, Leonel was clever enough to specify that those parameters were for any Crafting challenge.

"I see. I just find it unfortunate that you're insulting your wife to such a degree. You have such confidence in yourself, but now her? From what I understand, such a shoddy foundation for marriage is bound to end in failure."

Leonel didn't respond. He looked Somnus right in the eyes, his gaze carrying not a single hint of anything that could be read. There was no sadness, no rage, no righteous injustice, there weren't any of their opposites either.

They sat there in a pair, vacant and as deep as a bottomless abyss.

Somnus chuckled. "That's fine, forget my words of wisdom, then. Instead, how about you tell me what parameters you would accept, then?"

"Ten times what's on the list."

Somnus whistled. "What an appetite."

Just one thing on the list could bankrupt a normal Ninth Dimensional expert of a Mortal Race. Three things and a Ninth Dimensional expert of a Demi-God Race would really begin to feel the pinch.

If you were talking about the entire list, you'd be bankrupting entire Demi-God Bubbles.

Of course, these people controlled many such Bubbles, dozens at worst. But trying to cobble together ten times that was asinine. It could be said that Somnus found this amusing because he obviously felt that Leonel had picked out this number because he felt that no one would actually bring forward such stakes...

And he found that to be very naive.

The comparisons he had just given were for "normal" Demi-God Races, or Demi-God Bubbles under the control of Mortal Races that had yet to ascend to that next tier of level.

However, the Owlans were a very special case. Being the descendants of the Minerva Race already put them on a different tier compared to other Demi-Gods. But when their Crafting skill was taken into account, it was a different beast entirely.

Somnus put his hands up in mock defeat. © content.

"Unfortunate, unfortunate. I'm not so rich. I'll have to lower my bid, then. Just the 28 points and the one ring of three items to try and get my partner's stuff back, what do you say?"

"I refuse." Leonel said lightly, causing Somnus to laugh uproariously as though he had already expected it.

Much like he had thought, one way or another, he won.

If Leonel withdrew after Celestia challenged him, then he would avoid getting drawn into this mess.

If Leonel accepted the challenge, Somnus was certain that she wouldn't be foolish enough to ask for the Life Tablet. Instead, she'd ask for the Segmented Cube he went out of his way not to mention. That would, once again, allow him to dodge this mess.

Either way, victory was his.

As expected, Celestia parted her lips to speak...

Only to be interrupted.