COWARD?
All of these auras were alerted the moment two humans entered their sacred land.
Leonel stood there with his wife by his side, looking forward calmly.
The world was truly gorgeous. It seemed reminiscent of the pink, blue and violet worlds of the Dream Planes, but it wasn't exactly like this either.
The Ma'at Bubble Spirituals seemed to prefer gold and red, painting their world in this color and forming an exquisite sight.
Lady Emberheart weakly made her way forward, suddenly barring Leonel's path.
Leonel had noticed her long ago, but he didn't do anything to stop her. If this helped them feel better, that was fine by him. He didn't need to enter to do what he needed to do, he just needed a place where outsiders wouldn't overhear them.
He looked Lady Emberheart in the eyes and said something that made the world freeze over.
"I've figured out something quite interesting in the last year. Who would have thought that the Spirituals descended from us humans?"
Lady Emberheart's chest shook so violently that she coughed up a mouthful of blood.
How had another person found out about their greatest secret? How did they keep getting exposed in this way?
When she thought about how Leonel knew this from the very beginning, and still decided to threaten them with his strength instead, they all felt a grave bitterness in their hearts.
He had clearly done all of this purpose.
He could have made it this far with just this secret alone, but now that he had showed them his strength, would they still dare to have such designs on him?
Even Flaura didn't dare to appear here so openly, instead choosing to suppress them from afar.
But Leonel was standing right here, boldly proclaiming their weakness to their faces. How could this be so easy to accept?
"You see, normally, I wouldn't mind this. Everyone has their secrets. But throwing your own Race under the bus is a bit disgusting, don't you think?"
"... We had no other choice," Lady Emberheart said coldly, blood leaking from her lips.
"That much is fine. Honestly, I don't care if you throw the Human Race under the bus. Everyone hates us already, and I've already marked them on a list. You just shouldn't have brought my wife into it.
"But let's set that aside, since we've already decided to bury that hatchet. Aina." Leonel called out to his wife and stretched out a hand.
Aina handed an orb to him.
This orb had been with her ever since the Gathering of Kingdoms because it was precisely the reward she received from the Gathering of Kingdoms Stele.
The perfect cultivation method for the Human Race.
"Do you know what this is?"
The elders and Lady Emberheart looked at the orb. They felt their hearts tremble as they had a guess, but they didn't dare to confirm it.
"This is the only reward the Gathering of Kingdoms' Stele has handed out in the last several generations. Any guesses about what it is?"
Leonel's lip quirked.
"It's called the [Human Cycle]. It's amusingly separated into the Four-Leg Stage, the Two-Leg Stage and finally the Three-Leg Stage.
"The Gathering of Kingdoms Stele describes it as the perfect Dimensional Method for the Human Race..."
The elders trembled fiercely, guessing Leonel's next words before he even said them.
"... personally created by the God Beasts of Creation."
Silence reigned.
"This method is the chance of the Human Race to overcome their limits without relying on the blood of the Envoys or the God Beasts. owns all content.
"However, seeing the state of you all now, I've realized that its secrets also hold the key to undoing the greatest weakness of the Spiritual Race.
"You all exchanged affinity and the ability to reforge your bodies for the greatest strength of humans. The result is that your comprehension moves slowly and many of you barely reach the Impetus State, if ever at all.
"If you take a ratio between your affinities and the benefits you get out of it, the gap is quite large, huh?"
BANG! BANG!
Two figures suddenly appeared and landed before Leonel and Aina with such quick speeds that most wouldn't even have been able to see how they arrived.
One was an old woman, and the other was an equally as old man. They both looked like they already had a foot in the grave, and yet the shaking of the earth beneath those very feet painted a completely different picture.
Leonel didn't seem to care about their arrival, spinning the orb on his finger as though it wasn't valuable.
He had long since given this Dimensional Method to his brothers and friends. He had also begun to subtly spread it to some trustworthy individuals as well.
But it wasn't until he arrived here that he realized that he had far more leverage than he was even aware of.
If he allowed the Spirituals to study this technique, they would even be able to fix their weaknesses. Once they did, they would be no weaker than a Demi-God Race even before they finished their evolution. And once they did complete this evolution, they would instantly become one of the strongest of the Demi-God Races.
This was only really for the future... but what about what it could do right now?
If these old fogies had this technique, would they maybe find a way to break past their bottlenecks?
They were all already at the Ninth Dimension. There were only two ways to add to their lifespans. The first was to breakthrough in Tier, but they had already reached those limits long ago...
The second was a breakthrough in Force Manipulation. Such a thing would allow them to steal more from the universe and extend their lives as well.
Wasn't what Leonel was holding now as good as a ticket to life for half of them in here?
Leonel snapped his fingers and caught the orb out of the air.
"Now, there's really only one question to ask."
Leonel grinned.
"Are you going to continue to be cowards? Or are you going to grow some balls?"