SO BADLY?

Leonel watched in silence. The longer he stared at the bloody roses, the more he felt something stirring inside him. Or maybe... it was something on his finger.

The two pairs of Sylvan Hearts that he had taken were making their presence known and they seemed to be moved by this display. Leonel couldn't help but wonder if he should give them to Aina, but in the end, he shook his head. That didn't make much sense.

For one, she didn't have the same Lineage Factor as him. And second, she didn't need the boost to Life Force affinity because even compared to these two Sylvans that he had killed, she was probably still on a level all to herself. Leonel had yet to run into a character with a stronger Life Force affinity than his wife, and it would probably take going to the God Realm to find one.

Even so, he was fascinated by the movements of the Sylvan Heart. It certainly had its own reasons for reacting like this, and soon he seemed to understand.

'The bark...' Blood Force was attractive to Life Force because it was the best vessel for Life Force. Alone, there wasn't much that Life Force could do, but when it was attached to Blood Force, it gained a conduit to exert a great deal of power.

The bark of the Sylvan Race was similar, but it seemed to be a level inferior to Blood Force. However, as a tradeoff, it was likewise easier to control. Blood Force was ultimately a liquid, but Sylvan Bark was a solid; it could be used as a whip, and it was an extension of a Sylvan's body, naturally making it easier to control. The Sylvan Bark should be excited to see this Blood Force because they could do quite a lot together.

However, it would only be a hindrance to Aina. As for Leonel, he had no interest in such things either. He only wanted the Sylvan Hearts as a boost to his vitality; he had yet to even use them to attack. © 2024.

But then he had an idea.

'Aina can make blood clones... I wonder... if we attached Sylvan Hearts to those blood clones, they would be far more powerful... now wouldn't they?'

Leonel's gaze flickered.

He had already decided to move down the route of quality over quantity for his Summons. The value of Shan'Rae alone was far beyond any of his others. Though, to be fair to them, Leonel had yet to truly use them in battle because it wasn't time yet.

But, if he could mass-produce Sylvan Bark, then the blood clones that Aina created would have an extra layer of strength to them. Aina's blood clones had two main weaknesses. The first was that they had to be within a certain range of the one whose blood they were created from, and second, they were weak and had basically no power at all. Well, the blood clones that she created from herself didn't have such weaknesses, but that was a separate matter.

'It's a decent idea, but not worth putting so much effort into for now. It would be hard to scale, and I'm not sure if Sylvan Bark would grow without the presence of Sylvan Heart. I'll need more of those idiots to throw themselves to their deaths before I can 100% confirm this.'

BOOM!

A vast chasm suddenly appeared beneath the enormous blood rose and Leonel was forced back. It looked as though all the water in this quarter of the ocean, and another quarter more in the perimeter, had all vanished in the blink of an eye. The blood rose began to shrink, but the chasm didn't close as though a mysterious energy was keeping the sides from crashing in.

From this vantage point, Leonel could see clear to the bottom of the ocean. The amount of strength it took to do this was simply unfathomable. This deep into the ocean, the water had to be at least thousands of kilometers deep, and that was being conservative.

Soon, the blood roses had shrunk to the point that the vague silhouette of a humanoid figure could be seen on the inside... and then the water returned. It didn't fill the chasm immediately. Instead, it began to rain down from above. It started light, but then it began to pound. Every drop weighed as heavy as a hammer, and they seemed to only be coming faster and faster.

'Shit...'

Leonel looked up to see a pillar of water descending from the skies.

'Run.'

He turned back and high-tailed it out of there. Getting crushed by that amount of water would probably shatter every bone in his body if he didn't put up some form of protection, but he also didn't want to disturb his wife's breakthrough. Running was the only option.

BOOM!

The world shook and the Segmented Cube seemed to creak and whine at its edges. It was the first time Leonel had ever seen anything influence this world so much. He turned back to find the waters raging. Tsunamis rose and fell, swallowing one another and at other times, spitting one another out. And yet, the water immediately beneath Aina remained as calm as a summer lake's.

Her hair was a dulled, bloody red, even down to her pubes below. Her skin sparkled beneath the misty waters, but then her pores opened up and beads of bloody sweat appeared, only to evaporate into the air with an exhale. This bloody vapor suddenly sparked, arcs of black lightning flashing through them in a violent wisp.

FLAP.

A pair of bloody red wings appeared from the small of her back, stretching out ten meters in both directions. Feathers fluttered through the air, separating and raining down. But every time those crimson feathers touched the water, a ripple of gorgeous red light would spread out. When she took another breath, the world shuddered.

She opened her eyes and slowly, the phenomena vanished once after another. The only thing that remained constant were her golden eyes, but even they had flashes of black lightning within. Soon, her hair had returned to a deep black, her feet elegantly dangling from the air as small ripples of water spread out below.

'Damn...' Leonel thought to himself. '... My wife is kind of badass.'

...

In a hidden world, yet another storm began to brew as a woman with otherworldly beauty opened her eyes.

She looked over toward a young man who was seated not far, but he seemed to have opened his eyes long ago, staring at her with a hint of fanaticism, but restrained ego.

"It seems that it's time," she said lightly. "There will be no better chance."

She rose to her feet, walking out slowly.

"This will work," the young man said. "But by then, you'll have to keep your promise."

The woman looked toward him. Then, she unexpectedly smiled. The young man was taken aback. She had never seen this woman do such a thing, and it shook him down to his very core.

"Do you really want me so badly?"

"YES!" he said without hesitation.

"Mm... If you could have killed that man, then maybe. Unfortunately, no one else has the opportunity to do so... And his son is yet to give me the same level of pressure..."

The young man's expression changed several times, but he grit his teeth, following after.

These two were none other than Goggles and the Scorned Queen Beauty.