UNTIL NOW

Leonel crossed the cosmos with Aina, his thoughts unknown to all but him. However, his mouth seemed to be in another world entirely, talking flows of continuous nonsense with his wife as though the entire world didn't want him dead.

Aina could tell that Leonel had something on his mind, but she was also gratified that he didn't seem to be weighed down by it. His calm wasn't faked, and that left her feeling at ease. She had long since reached the point of pure, absolute confidence in this husband of hers. There was no need to worry about anything else when he was around.

Days passed like this, but they still didn't find what Leonel was looking for. In the end, Leonel actually returned to the Segmented Cube. As for his reason why... it was his brothers. They were awake now.

...

Leonel sat in front of them. The rock formation here was quite cryptic, but it was peaceful as well. The ancient stones were covered in moss, making them comfortable to sit on. And at the moment, there were the exact number of them that were needed. It was like this region was created specifically for them.

"How do you all feel?" Leonel asked with a smile. He met each one of their gazes, and he could guess what they were thinking, but he didn't expose them. Content © 2024.

How could they be happy? In the past, they used to be able to stand on the same battlefield as Leonel. But now, it felt like they weren't even worthy of that.

They had been carrying this burden for a long time. Every time they seemed to see Leonel's steps ahead of them, they were slapped back down to reality just like this.

They hadn't slacked even a single moment, but Leonel simply improved far too fast.

Looking at the bright smile on Leonel's face, though... for some reason, they felt at peace.

Usually, after they got slapped around like this, Leonel would come with a face full of guilt and heaviness. But this time, the situation seemed to be entirely different.

James clicked his tongue.

"At least one of us is happy."

The words lightened the mood considerably and a group of chuckles echoed.

Leonel grinned.

"I've promised you guys to help improve many times before, but I've failed every single time-"

"Stop," Joel cut Leonel off, shaking his head. His deep, brown eyes seemed to resonate with an amber color as he met Leonel's gaze. "You've done enough for us. There's no need for this. Honestly, I'm getting a bit tired of it..."

Joel sighed, shaking his head. How many resources had Leonel already poured into them? They even gained a Dimensional Method perfectly suited for the human race on top of that. They had tried their best, but it just wasn't enough.

This was just a difference in talent. If they couldn't surpass their limits even with the help of the Life Tablet, then it could only mean that they were useless.

It was hard, but Joel had already made a decision. Leonel needed to stop wasting resources on them. If he had turned all those resources he used on everyone else and focused them on himself and Aina instead, just how vastly different would things be? Maybe he would already be knocking on the window of the Seventh Dimension.

This was something that they had all agreed on. If they kept dragging Leonel down, then they would inevitably end up being the ones to get him killed in the future. And unlike Leonel, they would have no ability to revive him.

Leonel didn't respond to this immediately, looking through them one by one. When he saw that it wasn't that they were resigned, but rather that they were doing what they thought was best for him, his eyes couldn't help but water somewhat.

He had never shown this much emotion before his brothers before, but at the moment, he felt so completely free that his rawest inner thoughts were seen on his sleeve.

There was a great pressure on Leonel before this. He had carried everything alone, and he couldn't even spend as much time with his loved ones as he wanted to because of it.

Although he still called them his brothers, how many years had it been since he truly and intimately understood the kind of people they were?

Too long...

His mind still held onto versions of them back when they were still teenagers. But right now, they were grown men that had experienced more years of life than even himself.

It was hard to accept it, but even with the 10 years he had lost in the Sea God Zone, he was still younger than them all.

This world had separated them time and time again, but that much was fine... what hurt the most was that even when they were together, they couldn't truly be together. They were divided not by time and space, but by strength and status.

And that was the worst sort of fate for a friendship.

Joel was taken aback by the tears in Leonel's eyes. Although they didn't fall, he felt his heart shake.

Had he made a mistake? Was their decision just another form of abandoning Leonel?

However, just as he wanted to say something, anything, Leonel smiled through his tears.

"No. It really is my fault. I'm so useless that I couldn't come up with a method in all this time."

Their expressions shook. What had happened to Leonel?

"Can you not? You're making me feel like a sopping mess," James spoke with red eyes. "Fatty, say something."

He slapped Raj's back to urge him, but that just caused the bottled up sobs in Raj's body to spill out. Tears fell like a waterfall and he turned a vicious eye toward James.

"You blond-haired gigolo. I won't forgive you for this!"

Leonel couldn't help but laugh through his unshed tears.

"Let me finish first. I was unable to... until now."