BALANCE

Leonel's body shuddered, and at that moment, his Destruction Sovereignty became layered in two, reaching beyond the Gold Grade and entering the Life Grade. Soaring past that, then entering a new Grade altogether.

One that Leonel could only call the Self Grade.

It was a road of his own choosing, one that allowed both paths of a Sovereignty to exist as one.

And as for why he could do that...

Wasn't it because he had two perfect and whole Scarlet Star Force Innate Nodes?

BOOM!

Fire Sovereignty poured out from Leonel in waves. His red-gold flames became a solid, striking gold without the slightest hints of impurities.

Once again, it was two complete forms.

The both of them soared upward, and a dazzling crown appeared above Leonel's head.

At that moment, Leonel had perfectly formed four Sovereignties, and yet unlike his Spear and Bow Force, they were in perfect balance with one another.

With one wave, he would create a world.

With another, he could wipe it out.

The world shook and quaked around him, and by this point, the strongest experts of the world had long been alerted that there was something wrong.

Leonel raised his head slowly, feeling the power coursing through his body.

He felt somewhat blotted, but in a particularly full kind of way, rather than a stuffed sort of way.

It was like he had reached the limit of his humanity, but hadn't gone even a step further. If he consumed any more, it was either he would need a breakthrough, or he would die and his soul would shatter and scatter like ash in the wind.

However, it was a feeling that made him feel endlessly comfortable, nonetheless.

This must be what it means to reach your truest limit.

To think that he would comprehend so much that his body simply couldn't handle it anymore.

Sensing the auras rushing toward him, Leonel laughed into the skies.

With a wave of his hand, all the flames in the world seemed to obey his command.

Across worlds, volcanoes erupted, scorching temperature descended, and even stars expanded as though they would all explode at any moment.

Leonel took a step forward.

"You... You actually dare to come here?"

A Variant Invalid appeared, old and wizened. To his back, armies of Invalids looked prepped and ready for battle. It seemed that despite how many they had sent out, they still had trillions more.

The number was truly astonishing, but what was even more astonishing was that there were several Ninth Dimensional existences among them, as though the limits of the Incomplete World didn't matter to them.

Leonel wasn't surprised by this. That was because he had already sensed that this world had been entirely warped by the Invalids.

The Regulator wasn't suppressing them here any longer because it was just fine with its Destruction. In another few thousand years, this Incomplete World would collapse beneath its own weight, and then all these Invalids would go to devour another.

They were a sickness that would spread wherever they went. Insatiable and violent in their tendencies.

That was the reality of the Invalids.

Leonel didn't even bother to speak to them.

A flame to shape in his hands like a whip. It slashed out once and thousands of Invalids died in droves, but in truth, it was just a casual flick of Leonel's wrist.

The whip curved in an arc and then suddenly went rigid as Leonel held out his arm. It concentrated into a radiant golden spear, emitting blinding runes that seemed to want to suppress the world and force it into obedience.

Leonel took a step forward, thrust out once.

The void creaked, and the world shuddered. Another drove of thousands fell.

In the skies, they formed into motes of light, and yet their companions only looked greedily at these motes as though they wanted to absorb them right then and there. © 2024.

Leonel, however, saw a different sight entirely.

He could feel the push and pull of the world, a struggle that superseded what could be seen with the naked eye and existed on a plane that even the Gods couldn't fight on.

One that existed in the First Dimension.

It was the reality of a fight in the darkness, one between life and death, and creation and destruction.

The Invalids might represent Destruction, but when they died, what they left behind... wasn't it the truest kernel of creation?

It was the only Force in existence that could be freely consumed to strengthen oneself at no cost at all, or any backlash and hidden troubles.

In the past, Leonel had wondered why it was that Existence provided Ability Indexes. In all the powers of the world, it seemed to be the most out of place and the most inexplicable.

It could be entirely unrelated to your affinities, your Lineage Factors, or your preferences. You could be born into a family of spear wielders and yet be meant to use your fists for the rest of your life.

It wasn't until today that Leonel got his answer.

Balance.

Ability Indexes were Existence's way of reshuffling the board, stopping from one family or power from monopolizing everything, while also bringing a counterbalance to creation in the destruction path of the Invalids.

It was a single move that expended energy to regain a myriad of rewards in return. It was the kind of mindlessly cruel matter that only a lofty God above all could choose to do... all because, in the end, it would counterbalance the bad from becoming worse.

When Leonel understood this, he looked toward the Invalids in a different light.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't change his actions.

His moral compass had long since been set to a different cadence. He knew that for the greater good, Invalids had to exist and would continue to.

He just didn't give a damn.

All threats to his wife deserved death.

He suddenly grasped out with a hand, and his Path of Creation churned.

All at once, the motes of light surged toward him.