UNWILLING

Leonel grinned, observing Little Fox curiously.

"Tell me, how many lives have you lived?"

Little Fox's expression changed before he quickly covered it up.

"What is mister talking about?"

"Don't you feel a little sick to your stomach pretending to be a little boy? You don't need to hide it, no one is watching the courtroom, while the challenges are ongoing they can only see the challenges themselves. Why don't you let this mister know? I won't hurt you."

A sinister light flashed in Little Fox's eyes.

"My parents told me not to trust strangers."

"I'll be sure to swing by your neighborhood with a white van and some candy. I bet you won't be able to resist then."

Little Fox's gaze flashed with confusion, but he was ultimately a Dream Force master. He could feel the intention of Leonel's words even if he didn't understand the terminology. And when he did, he felt furious.

However, he slowly calmed himself down. He would wait and see how long Leonel would be able to prance around for. Even if they lost this, did Leonel really think that things would come to an end here? Of course not. If anything, he would just put himself in a different line of fire.

At that moment, Patriarch Khafra stepped out, feeling pleased with himself. But when he saw Leonel, a baleful aura suddenly erupted from him.

It only appeared for a brief instant, and it vanished an instant afterward. But it was still more than enough for Eamon and Gregwyn to sway on their feet, almost collapsing entirely.

Leonel's smile didn't fade, his gaze not leaving Little Fox for even an instant. By the time the "little boy" remembered that he should have been scared, it was too late to pretend now. Even if his thinking speed was on another level and he would have still had time to fool a normal person, he knew that it was useless before Leonel.

The points were tabulated and then the bars fluctuated. Soon, Leonel and his Vast Dream Pavilion reclaimed first place and by a decent margin at that. It was clear that there was barely enough room for one more challenge.

The first requirement for a win was to fill your bar up entirely. If you did so and the other party failed to do so, the challenge would end and your Dream Pavilion would win.

However, there was a second caveat. If both teams cleared the bar in the same challenge, then the winner would be decided by whoever had the most points in the end.

Right now, Leonel had such a large margin of victory that even if Patriarch Khafra and the others picked on Eamon or Goggles, so long as they showed up and admitted defeat, he would still secure his victory.

It could be said that the Tower of Force Arts had already sealed Leonel's victory, and Patriarch Khafra realized this.

Judging by the point disparity, Patriarch Khafra realized that he would have had to go at 100% to stop this from happening. But he had no idea how Leonel had done it.

How was this possible?

"What are you waiting for?" Leonel grinned ear to ear, pointing at the three floating challenge orbs that had already manifested. "Aren't you going to pick?"

Patriarch Khafra felt stifled.

"Leave it to me," Little Fox suddenly said.

Patriarch Khafra looked over and frowned. What was he talking about? It was already over, it didn't matter if...

Little Fox gave him a glance and Patriarch Khafra could only nod in the end. With a thought, he picked another one on one challenge and it was the only one on one challenge available. The others were a three on three and a two on two.

The challenge was quite simple. It was a maze challenge, but this time, there were no guides, they were on their own.

Leonel looked toward Goggles with a smile, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You don't need to push too hard, just have fun with it. If you find yourself in danger, you can always give up."

Leonel looked into Goggles' eyes and paused.

Goggles was looking back at him, but in that moment, it was as though he was looking at a completely different person. No, it felt like a thin facade had been ripped away. This text is property of Nô/velD/rama.Org.

With a shrug, Goggles slid his shoulder out of Leonel's grasp.

"I won't be participating anymore."

Before Leonel could respond, Goggles had already disappeared.

Eamon was shocked. Let alone him, even Gregwyn was shocked. He didn't understand what had just happened.

Gregwyn let out a hollow laugh that quickly became uproarious. He was like a drowning man that finally found a life raft.

The Dream Pavilion Head could never force others to participate on his behalf, at least not without external force. That was why only Clarence and Leonel had participated in the first Challenge Sequence, they had no ability to force everyone else to participate without threatening their lives on the outside.

But since Goggles dared to do this, would he even be in the Dream Pavilion anymore by the time Leonel returned? And Leonel obviously couldn't leave now, or else it wouldn't just be himself who was giving up, but the entire Vast Dream Pavilion.

The worst part was that even if Goggles had joined the challenge and then given up right after, they still would have won. But because he had given up without even entering, the penalty was far harsher.

Leonel didn't even have a Fourth Dimensional expert to replace him!

"You reap what you sow!" Gregwyn said between bouts of manic laughter. "Even your own people can't stand you!"

Leonel stood in silence, staring at the location Goggles had just been standing in.

The Goggles he knew would have never done this. The Goggles he knew would have stood by his side to the end, even if it meant death. The Goggles he knew had already given up his life for his sake once before and would have been willing to do it again.

It didn't make sense, none of it made sense...

Except it did.

Leonel knew the answer in his heart, he was just unwilling to admit it... he was unwilling to accept what it meant for Goggles to betray him right here and right now.

A tear fell from Leonel's eye, streaking down his cheek.