ANOTHER

"Another bought it."

The voice was a bit gloomy, but it was difficult for it not to be in the situation. They already didn't have much room to maneuver and had been preparing for so long, but now there was another obstacle in their path.

"Who?"

"Don't ask stupid questions. You know we can't see that."

If Leonel was here, he would lament that he was right too often. Sometimes, it was nice to be wrong, especially in a situation like this one. But it seemed that he wouldn't be so lucky.

Both speakers were members of the Demi-God Barbarian Race, and both of them were Ninth Dimensional monsters with presences that could have caused the surrounding air to tremble.

Luckily for Leonel, the surrounding air was only reacting so fiercely because they were two Demi-Gods standing in a Mortal Realm. In fact, they were in the very same desert world that Aina and Leonel had just walked through.

Unluckily for Leonel, this didn't change the fact both were obscenely powerful.

"You already know that this transaction is locked on both sides. Maybe only the top three Dream Pavilions could take a look at who it was, but if we could ask them for help, would we be in this situation?"

The shorter Barbarian leapt up and slapped the much taller on the back of the head, feeling irritated.

The bigger Barbarian didn't even fight back, seemingly used to this sort of treatment.

"There's no other choice than to just move forward with the original plan. We have a few years' advantage. It'll be hard for any outsiders to get a leg up on us."

The truth was that they had found this world before it was even listed on the Dream Pavilion exchange. However, when they noticed the fact it had been listed, they had no choice but to buy it first, hoping it would be a deterrent to others.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

Not long afterward, a second party bought this information, and now there was a third. There was no telling if there would be any more. © 2024.

"We can stick with the original plan... but we'll have to speed it up a bit. The situation on the other side is becoming murky, and the moment Zephyrion makes his appearance, we'll have truly run out of time. The Barbarian Race will be screwed."

The two solemnly looked ahead, realizing they had no room for error.

Leonel had said that Incomplete Worlds couldn't birth Demi-God or God Races. He had also said that Invalids could only come from Inbetween Worlds...

So how was it that both Apex and his Master were Invalids of the Barbarian Race?

This was a secret that only the highest echelon of the Barbarian Race was aware of.

"Send in that annoying brat Talon. We don't have time to waste."

The void was a place that was difficult to describe. On the one hand, this was because the title of "void" was enough to encapsulate everything, but on the other it felt like it still wasn't enough.

Stepping into the void for the first time, Leonel felt this cognitive dissonance quite clearly.

Laws ceased to be. There was no up or down, there were no objects or things in the normal sense, and one even vaguely felt that life itself wasn't worth living...

It was like staring into the maw of a Void Beast, and yet this felt more grandiose, larger and though less imposing, far more ubiquitous and all-consuming.

It was easy for a person's mind to collapse into a place like this. At least Anarchic Force was something. It had a purpose and it could take action. But the void was nothing but existential dread.

It was akin to a reminder that it was possible for there to simply be: Nothing. The world didn't necessitate the existence of Something and it was just fine with wiping everything out and leaving nothing more than a blank slate.

It was this reality that the root of the existential dread was based on it.

At that moment, Leonel felt happy that he had Aina by his side for more than one reason. The feeling of her hand in his seemed to be the only anchor he had in the vast nothingness.

Even taking a breath couldn't bring him any solace when there was no air to breathe in to begin with.

With a look of determination, Leonel pressed forward, and the duo eventually reached a barrier. This was a good sign. At the very least, this barrier was "something", it was tangible, and it wasn't the void. This meant the Incomplete World they were aiming for should be on the other side.

Now, they just had to withstand the ire of the Regulator.

The couple pressed forward, holding one another's hands tightly as they began to force their way through.

Instantly, a chain lashed against Leonel's body. A searing pain made his eyes go red, but it wasn't just because of the pain itself, but what it reminded him of.

Was this the pain his father had experienced?

No, it was likely far worse than just this alone.

Feeling the chains digging into his skin, lacerating it and drawing on his blood, he remembered his father's final moments.

Those thoughts spurred him on.

He couldn't allow this to happen again. The next time someone came for his family, he would be strong. Strong enough to block and wind and rain, to palm the skies with a hand and split the earth with a stomp.

He pulled Aina into his arms, protecting her from the rage of the Regulator. Deep in his eyes, a cool indifference smoldered like an undying ember. His heart shone brightly and his Dream Force flickered, his mind becoming sharper and sharper.

His determination formed into the point of an arrow and pierced through the shadows, and soon he had walked out from the fog.

Standing at the edge of an unknown universe, he suppressed the roar he wanted to unleash within himself.

Three years. In three years, this world would be his.