SLAIN

"They call themselves Celestial Storms, you know," Aina said, as they made their way across the skies.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're Dragons."

"They don't have scales, though. Their skin is just leather that looks like scales."

"Definitely Dragons."

"They don't breathe fire, they control the weather."

"Sounds like an Eastern Azure Dragon to me."

"You're hopeless."

"A hopeless romantic."

"What's romantic about slaying Dragons?"

"What? My little vampire doesn't agree?"

Aina blinked innocently, but then couldn't hold back her smile. Indeed.

Maybe slaying Dragons could be romantic.

BANG!

Aina and Leonel soared in Celestial Ember territory.

No one could have possibly thought that after causing all of that commotion in the Owlan Bubbles, they would directly ignore them and soar all the way across the world.

No one could also expect them to be so fast.

By now, all teleportation platforms had been shut down and restrictions had been lit to stop teleportation.

Powerful worlds of this level all had the ability to stop forceful teleportation into their ranks.

It had to be remembered that even back in the Dimensional Verse, all organizations and families were wary of Spatial Force users. Since the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts dared to battle it out with the Void Race, how could they not also be ready to counter some of their most fearsome abilities?

As such, in this war, movement from location to location was almost impossible.

Yet, not only had Leonel and Aina crossed three worlds in less than a day, not even a day later, they had already crossed the Demi-God worlds to reach the territory of the Fallen God Beasts.

How was that?

The answer was in the void.

The void was true nothingness, unlike Anarchic Force. But it was also in touch with all things.

Someone who could navigate nothing could make it to almost any location in a fraction of the time. It was almost like folding the bounds of reality to your whims.

This was how Leonel had been able to find so many Incomplete Worlds so quickly, and it was precisely how he was able to lead his wife from battle to battle.

In the end, Leonel was doing this because he knew he didn't have the time to waste. He had to start working on several plans at once, or else he would never be able to effect change toward the outcome he wanted.

And right now, he was still lacking key information.

He knew that despite how cowardly the Owlans and Fallen God Beasts were acting; they had to have some sort of end goal. This end goal had to result in them becoming Gods in the end.

The question was... how? What plans did they have for taking this final step?

Before he pushed the final phase of his plans into motion, he needed this answer.

...

The moment Leonel and Aina broke through the barrier of the Ember Bubble, they were assaulted by a wave of heat by the roar of beasts.

Leonel's pupils constricted. 'It's not several beasts. It's just one.'

He looked up into the skies and found a beast he had only read about in fairytales. Its body was a sleek white, and just as Aina had said, it had leathery skin, not scales. Even so, watching it reflect beneath the sun like this, it truly did look no different from scales. owns all content.

Its body was majestic and its presence was even more so.

Leonel's gaze lit up with excitement, as though he didn't notice that it was locked in battle with a Void Race expert. He rushed into the skies.

Aina's eyes blinked as she watched Leonel's reaction. He looked like a toddler on Christmas Day... if a toddler could suddenly-

BANG!

Leonel's foot barreled into the side of the Celestial Storm's head, blood flew across the skies and sharp fangs rained down.

The enormous beast was rattled.

The Void Race character was taken off guard, but reacted quickly, slashing out.

"SCRAM!" Leonel roared.

This was his chance to slay a Dragon.

The Void Race man was assaulted by a wave of Dream Force that made his mind go blank.

Leonel turned back and raised two fists high into the air, appearing above the reeling Celestial Storm.

Storm clouds suddenly flashed in the air, but Leonel didn't seem to notice them at all, slamming down with full force.

BOOM!

The fists came with a clap of thunder. The mind of the Celestial Storm clouded and its consciousness wavered.

It couldn't stop itself from plummeting to the ground.

The earth became no different from a raging sea. It cracked and split apart, large earthen tsunamis roaring into the skies and wiping out armies for hundreds of kilometers.

Lightning bolts and slicing, cutting wind whipped out at Leonel, but his body flickered with runes and the lightning seemed to become part of his strength.

Leonel flicked a hand, and a strong surge of earth formed a sword. Lightning wrapped around it as his eyes shone with a fierce violet light.

Aina's gaze blinked in confusion, not quite understanding why Leonel had chosen the form of a sword, but not questioning it either.

All she could see was a strike that split the skies in two.

The storm clouds above dispersed and even the Void Race member behind him was cut in half.

The head of the Celestial Storm flew into the skies and silver blood poured down and rippled through the cracks in the earth like roaring rivers.

Leonel took a breath and seemed to only now calm down a bit.

'Dad would have loved to see this.'

His father had always loved anime and manga. One of his favorite characters was Zoro, precisely because of his Ancestor. His dad had once said Zoro should have been One Piece's main character.

Recalling the memory, Leonel laughed into the skies.

He knew the reason his dad loved Zoro so much was because of the one-shot manga that came before One Piece, one where Zoro's Ancestor had slain a Dragon with a single blade.

Today, he had done the same thing.