MIGHT
Leonel walked through the void, his steps slow and steady. He was unhurried, his mind churning.
He could see through this path forward from the very beginning. He knew that once things had reached this stage, they would eventually force the Invalids to take action. And there was a very good reason for that.
The Gods.
Or more accurately, in this case, Gods that had ascended from Mortal Races.
Under normal circumstances, the likes of the Void Race and others of their stature would be happy to ignore this situation for a while, allowing the Invalids to run rampant and clear out more Mortal Realms to allow Existence's burden to lessen and slow the approach of the Northern Star.
However, this wouldn't be so easy to do.
The God Realms had their own laws, and the Invalids were well known to be the enemies of Existence. They were hated even more than the Fawkes of the past.
Everyone was meant to take up arms to wipe out the Invalids. Something like using them just for the sake of convenience would be going against their own doctrines.
Of course, rules were dead, and the powerful decided everything. And that was where the Gods of the Mortal Races came into play.
How could these Existences just sit back and do nothing as their descendants were slaughtered?
They would certainly pressure the other God Races to make a decision on the matter, and even if the God Races dragged their feet, these Gods would be well within their right to take personal action. After all, it would no longer be breaking the rules of the God Courts.
Leonel understood this, and so did the Owlans, Fallen God Beasts, and most certainly the Variant Invalids who had been hiding away from the God Realms all this time.
So why did the Invalids take such action?
Obviously, this was part of their plan from the beginning. An opening up of a passage from the God Realm to the lower Realms on a large scale would only make it easier for them to succeed.
But this was also obviously a method of targeting Leonel.
The truth was that even if the Mortal Race Gods pressured the God Court to make a decision, it was still something that would take years.
With the assault of the Invalids, the Human Bubble would certainly be at the top of their list of targets, and it would likewise force Leonel to appear in a predictable region instead of just allowing him to run around unabated.
It wasn't the ideal time to take this action, but it also wasn't the worst either.
Even further, it was clear that the Fallen God Beasts, and the Owlans planned on relying on plausible deniability to excuse the coordination of their actions and the Invalids. Or, likely, from the very beginning, they had their own methods of keeping these things separate.
Leonel, however, didn't feel that it would take years. In fact, he felt that one year was still too much.
'This will end in three months...'
His original timeline was two months. However, because he couldn't wipe out all the Invalids left in the Incomplete Worlds, he had ended up in a bit of a precarious situation.
That would make the timeline he had to work with quite tight.
The formations would certainly last for at least two months, but three months was pushing it. There might have to be some sacrifices made.
However, Leonel pushed this thought down, his gaze still completely focused.
There was only one path out of this and he would have to thread it.
And while he was at it, he might as well lure out some scurrying rats and tie up some loose ends.
At that moment, Leonel appeared high above the Human Bubble, standing on its dimensional edges as though he was truly balancing himself upon a Bubble.
The invasion of the Invalids was already in full swing. It was clear that what Leonel had done to protect the coordinate of the Human Bubble hadn't been permanent, nor very effective against the strongest existences.
For the Invalids to make it here so fast, it could only mean that they had specifically targeted it.
And as expected, the number of Invalids and Variant Invalids here far outnumbered the amount he could have found anywhere else.
They numbered in the billions, and at this pace, let alone three months, the barrier would last a month total, and maybe an extra week after that at best, depending on how relentless they were.
Leonel watched all of this from above, the glow of the formation beneath his feet and his gaze flickering with a cold light.
He didn't take action immediately. First, he wanted to get a feel for not only the army but also how his new comprehensions interacted with the world around him.
The Inbetween Worlds and their Anarchic Force... would they clash or help his Destruction Sovereignty comprehensions? Was Anarchic Force a path of Creation, Destruction, or neither?
The answer seemed to obviously be Destruction, but Leonel's way of viewing the world was no longer so binary.
Even so, that was a secondary matter. Because after observing the army for a while, he realized that he was correct...
This wouldn't be easy at all.
These Invalids were truly powerful, and without the advantage of being in an Incomplete World, if he threw himself at this army, he'd be lucky to cut down a few hundred thousand before he died.
Leonel pursed his lips a bit, nodding. Then they curled into a sneer.
Without a sound, he sunk into the barrier, appearing in the Human Bubble for the first time in almost two years. Well, that was how long it had been to them. To him, it had already been more than 10 years.
With a step, he appeared around Godlen Territory. Now wasn't the time for reminiscing, unfortunately.
His own power, at least in its raw form, wasn't enough for this.
So it was a good thing he already knew what to do.
He would show the world the might of a God Armament Crafter. owns all content.
...
Deep in the Inbetween World, the disturbance caught a ragged Flaura sat in silence.
At that moment, she looked up. Her violet eyes glowing.