[BONUS] OPEN UP

[Bonus chapter thanks to TheCodedProf :) (1/6)]

Somnus had no words to speak left after the pill was complete. He was certain that if it was brought before the Pillar of Truth, let alone nine runes, it might light up double that, maybe more.

He was just guessing and he had no way of being sure, but what he did know was that Verma was certainly not a match for Aina by any stretch of the imagination.

And to make matters worse than that... she was a Blood Sovereign?!

Somnus seemed to finally understand just how fearsome this couple was, and despite how Leonel acted, he was far more calculating and careful with how he did things than it seemed. Before anyone realized what was happening, they would have already fallen into his trap.

No... hadn't he already fallen?

If it was just one Leonel, it could be ignored. But such a young and powerful Force Pill Crafter, matched with the youth that was already crowned the beast Crafter of their generation...

Would they still dare to say that the Human Race couldn't rise again?

Somnus suddenly began to struggle, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move.

He sent out signals and flares, but where could any of them go under Anastasia's control? This world was completely isolated, a blank canvas that Leonel could do whatever he pleased with.

Leonel and Aina didn't even look toward the struggling Dream Asura. The pill landed in Leonel's hand and he looked at it for a moment.

"Is this the strongest you can make?" Leonel asked.

Aina smiled. "What? Doubting me? It's not up to the lofty standards of the King?"

Leonel laughed. "Not what I meant. I'm more so referring to the fact this is only one of his arms. What's the pill compared to what you could have done with his whole body?"

"Well, there's some variability... but honestly I didn't actually need his arm. We can use him like a blood farm, it would be much easier to deal with. His flesh is helpful, but only marginally in comparison. It could be made up for with more blood."

"Really?"

Leonel was a bit confused about that. Before, Aina refined entire demons. This felt different from that in an odd sort of way.

"Yes. The secret to the Dream Asuras strength lies in their blood. It's a very clever use of Blood as a vessel.

"If you use our connection to see into my insights on Blood Force, you might be able to understand. Blood Force isn't Life Force itself, and Life Force alone can't be used to do much of anything.

"Under normal circumstances, the Life Force everyone is born with is restricted and can only be used slowly over the course of your life. It can increase when your strength increases or you ingest something special, and it can also decrease for the opposite reasons.

"Blood Force allows you to use Life Force on your own terms. It's the perfect vessel for the latter, and it allows me to use larger amounts of my Life Force any given moment I so please, and it also allows me to add more to my Life Force when I so choose as well.

"The Dream Asuras seem to have a very special Dream Force that is a fusion of Life Force and Dream Force. This allows them to use their Blood Force as a vessel for both.

"This is all to say that their greatest strength is stored within their blood. Their flesh is just a byproduct of that initial process. Without it, their bodies wouldn't be much tougher than humans."

Leonel's eyes lit up with understanding.

It was unlikely that all Dream Asuras could wield or control Blood Force, but their Lineage Factor should give most of them a proxy by which to do so. It was slightly different, but not wholly so in practice-

A flash of lightning shook Leonel's Dreamscape.

'... No...' he thought, his eyes widening.

During the first round of the selections, he and Aina had come across a group of individuals who had their Blood Force completely sapped clean of Life Force.This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

He hadn't thought about it in a while because he thought he had already found the culprits, that being the demons under the Sun and Moon Demon banner.

But had he?

Leonel's brows furrowed, spinning the pill in his fingers.

Was he being played? But anyone who wanted to do so wouldn't be stupid enough to leave a clue like that behind? Or was it that they assumed he would make the wrong assumption about what was going on? After all, he had already forgotten it for a long while now...

"Alright, I will take this for now. I know that you've wanted to break into the Eighth Dimension for a while now. We should have all the materials we need for everything here, so take whatever you need."

Aina nodded. They had already done all of the simulations, and she had a clear path ahead.

Soon, it was just Leonel and Somnus left, the latter of which had seemed to have lost all light of hope.

Leonel yawned. "There's really no need to pretend to be so distraught. Even if I lowered my guard to the abyss of hell, there'd still be no way for you to get out of here.

"Well, actually. I can think of a few ways. It's just that I doubt you could, and even if you by some miracle did, you could never execute them."

Leonel smiled and Somnus felt a shiver down his spine that was something other than pain for the first time in a long while.

If Leonel just said there was no way, he wouldn't believe him for a moment. But this...

"Now, shall we rob you thoroughly?" Leonel grinned.

"Anastasia, open up the world he's carrying around with him for me please."

At that moment, a tear in space took shape. Then, one after another, precious and not so precious items began to fall out.