HAVOC

Leonel gave Patriarch Khafra a glance and then left without a word. He didn't need to say anything, not right now. He didn't feel like speaking at all. His thoughts were consumed with crushing this person until they had absolutely nothing left to give.

Soon, Leonel could see the gorgeous clouds of the Dream Pavilion once more. He looked up and into the skies in silence, his mind drifting elsewhere.

"Are you alright? We don't have to do any of this, you know," Aina said softly.

They really didn't need to, she was right. With their capabilities, they could probably just hide away in a place in silence. They didn't need to be at the center of every storm. While it was true that some things that had happened had forced their hand, by now they didn't need to pay attention to such things anymore. © 2024.

They needed the Challenge Sequence to protect the Dream Pavilion. Without it, the Human Domains would be far too vulnerable.

They needed the Gathering of Kingdoms to prevent the world from having the right to wipe them all from existence.

They needed the Gathering of Minds because it was the only way to divert attention from themselves. Because of the Challenge Sequence and the Gathering of Kingdoms, they were right in the middle of the spotlight and they needed a method of cleansing themselves of that responsibility.

But what about now?

The next Gathering of Kingdoms would be for generations. The Gathering of Minds had successfully turned everyone's attention to the Owlans. The Dream Pavilion was protected for the foreseeable future and unless the upper echelon went entirely mask-off, there was no legitimate way of taking it away from Leonel either.

It had to be remembered that even without the Life Tablet, Leonel had met the requirements to be a Pavilion Head on his own the moment his Dream Force entered the Life State.

He didn't need the word of anyone else anymore.

All of the immediate problems were fixed, they'd done their duty to the Human Race, they had the Segmented Cube and could vanish into some obscure corner of the world and not deal with any of this anymore until they had grown strong enough. And even then it would still be their choice.

Right now, they were at least strong enough to make that choice.

Sure, if they left there would be no one left to protect the Human Race. Sure, the Dream Asura would almost certainly come for revenge, and the Owlans, and the Spirituals...

But if they didn't want to deal with it, did they have to? Did they have such an obligation? Where were their elders? Their parents? Their grandparents? Why did they have to take on such a burden?

Leonel looked down from the skies and looked at his wife's side profile. She seemed to be gazing up with him.

To think that all of this had started just because they wanted to take a vacation.

"Is that what you want?" Leonel asked.

Aina blinked and looked at Leonel. Was that what she wanted? Not really. In truth, so long as she was by Leonel's side, that was all that ever mattered to her.

In fact...

The gazes of the two met. Even without saying any words, they shared the same understanding.

It was a battle hungriness.

Aina felt a desire for battle that couldn't be satiated by anything else. Maybe even part of the reason she once resented Leonel for always putting himself in danger wasn't just because he could die, but that he always left her out of it.

As for Leonel, he could still remember the first time he stepped on a battlefield. It was that day in the Camelot Sub-Dimensional Zone. He had felt an excitement deep within himself that nothing else could match...

But he didn't have the same battle lust as Aina. No... he just really liked to win and the battlefield was the location that allowed him to bask in that feeling the most viscerally.

"I don't want to take a break right now," Leonel said. "I would prefer to make someone pay."

Aina smiled. "Then what do you want to do, husband?"

"Don't call me that right now. I'm trying to get into murder mode and you're making me feel all bubbly."

Aina laughed, a beautiful chime echoing through the Pavilion.

Suddenly, someone cleared their throat.

Leonel and Aina looked toward Eamon at the same time. The poor fellow had been awkwardly standing there for the entire time, but he had to interrupt lest he feel like he was intruding on something any more intimate than this already was.

"Um... do you need me anymore?"

"Of course I need you!" Leonel replied. "As for what we're going to do now, it's obviously to get revenge. But first, we'll be going to a certain Dwarven Bubble. I'm sure there'll be interesting things over there."

The Dream Asuras plans were interesting. For some reason, they had tried to rope in the Dwarven Race. The position of the Bubbles was the most obvious answer, but Leonel was certain that that wasn't all.

He wondered. What would they get out of Aerin coming to the Spirituals and, likely, being harmed or killed?

In a narrow view of focus, this seemed to be just a smokescreen. But from a larger...

Demonizing humans, riling up the Dwarven Race, roping in the Nomad Race, forcing the Spirituals into becoming a pawn.

There were so many large players of several Races involved, all happening while the Gods had conveniently descended to wreak havoc on the Demi-Gods.

And on top of all of that... wasn't the culling still ongoing?

It was absolute chaos, and someone was thriving in it.

A smile crept onto Leonel's face.

Even Somnus was expelled from his Clan, and he hadn't even taken personal action to do anything wrong. What would happen to this person if their actions were exposed?

"Alright, wife, let's go wreak some havoc."

Aina looked at Leonel with an excited glint in her eyes and Eamon suddenly felt like the third wheel again.