MA'AT BUBBLE

The Ma'at Bubble wasn't as beautiful as the Owlan Bubble, but it carried an elegance of its own, especially at a time like this where the mood was festive and inviting.

From Leonel's perspective, the Gathering of Minds had ended in humiliation, but how could it be the same for Lyra Emberheart, who had become the pride of her Race in a single bound?

The victory that she secured was akin to the best in recent history for the Spirituals and even Pure Blooded Spirituals. Her name was already being written into the annals of history.

Although she and Aerin were only third place, they had placed behind two groups of Demi-Gods. This effectively meant that in terms of Mortal talent, she was at the very top. How could the Spirituals not take pride in this?

This was the sort of festive environment that Leonel and Aina stepped into. Content © 2024.

Quite frankly, Leonel had expected that entering such a Bubble would have been much harder. But it seemed that with the festivities, everything had become far more lax.

There was also the network of teleportation platforms that had been connected. Because of the Owlans' current situation, they weren't exactly in the position to retract their previous order. So it could be said that Existence was more connected now than it had ever been before.

Leonel and Aina walked through the streets, both of them wearing masks in the fashion of a masquerade ball to fit in.

By now, their faces were too famous between the Gathering of Kingdoms events and the Gathering of Minds. So this was the best option for them now.

They spent a few hours moving through a crowded bazaar and buying cute little trinkets that Aina found cute.

Hours ago, Leonel had brought out his brothers as well. Among them, he had also coaxed Kira out to have some fun as well.

The girl had spent too long with her head buried, studying and improving with the corpse of the Shadow Tail. If Leonel had forgotten himself for a half year, she had forgotten herself for even more time than that.

As the sun began to wane, Leonel looked toward Aina.

"So how do we find them?" He realized that he had been having so much fun that he forgot to ask this question.

Aina smiled. Although she was eager to see her friends, she also wanted to spend some alone time with her husband so she hadn't brought it up either.

"They said that they're staying in the Elysian Fields. It's the region with the highest population of non-Spirituals and Half-Spirituals. They live there in relative peace."

"Relative?" Leonel asked.

"Well, it's not perfectly pleasant 100% of the time. The Ma'at Bubble is far better than other worlds in terms of inclusivity and open-mindedness, but there's still a thinly veiled class system of sorts. The governor of the region is a Half Spiritual, so it's not like the Pure Bloods haven't taken steps to make the situation more balanced. But it can never be perfect."

Leonel nodded.

Earth dealt with a lot of those situations in the past, it wasn't until everyone was brought under one banner and culture that things changed. But even then, rather than a matter of Race, it became a problem of Class, with a certain subsection of people living on the surface and everyone else having to sleep in the skies.

Ultimately, it was those people who died in droves when the Metamorphosis appeared, but Leonel, even with his changes, didn't like the approach his grandfather had taken.

It was too cruel.

In a world like this one where strength ruled above all, and not something as vastly more complex as intelligence, for example, even if you put effort into equalizing everyone, there would always be gaps that couldn't be closed.

Yuri and Savahn were likely doing well for themselves as they had placed decently during the Gathering of Kingdoms, so Leonel wasn't too worried about them. But it was probably best that they prepare for a potential... situation.

Leonel gathered up his brothers again, teasing Joel and Raj.

Joel seemed to let it roll off his shoulders, which was expected. His relationship with Savahn was far more mature and his way of viewing things was far more pragmatic. Leonel could even see that Joel was hiding something deep within his eyes.

Leonel, of course, knew what that was. Joel was bracing himself for the worst.

It had been years since the last time they were together, and it wasn't as though they were husband and wife. Back on Earth, such a separation would effectively mean a break up. The expectation of staying together was... naive at best.

As for Raj, he was a nervous wreck. His relationship with Yuri was best described as a glass canon. The first few times they interacted it was filled with vitriol and they had both said some wildly cruel things to one another. In fact, the first time they hooked up... Raj didn't even know what happened.

One second they were yelling at each other, the next they were making out, and in the next they were sharing a bed.

"... she took my innocence, I'm a victim," Raj mumbled beneath his breath shamelessly.

The boys looked at him, unable to find the words to speak.

Raj looked up, realizing he said that out loud. "Dammit, can't you super human fucks pretend you didn't hear anything?!"

Laughter echoed as the group stepped into the Elysium Fields.

Grasslands and farmlands as far as the eye could see stretched out. Unlike the city, they were thrust into the hub of agriculture now, and the air smelled even more sweet.

'Hm?'

Hundreds of kilometers away, Leonel's senses locked onto something.

It was a small troop of warriors, though it was hard to describe them like that. They were more like the heralds and drummers of an army. Only one of them seemed to be a warrior of some kind, and he clearly had the highest authority.

At the moment, he was moving toward their destination with a scroll in hand.

Leonel's eyes narrowed.