OBLIGE

Leonel lived up to his word. His brothers couldn't even believe the kind of strength that was coursing through their veins. But it wasn't as simple as that. Leonel didn't even particularly add to them; it was as though he had framed their potential and made them see just how much of it they had locked away within them, only limited by their upbringing and lingering issues that had remained from their youth.

There were three major things each one of them gained when they fused with the Incomplete World.

The first was a new foundation. Leonel didn't add to their strength; he used [Assimilate] to refine their foundations, forcing them to unearth their fullest potential. With [Assimilate] and [Dimensional Cleanse] as a foundation, he basically reforged everything that they had already accomplished on their own, improving it. As such, they felt like barely anything had changed, and yet like everything had changed.

The second was enlightenment. Through the Force Art and the consciousnesses of the humans, or other races, within the Incomplete World, it felt like their brains were constantly firing synapses. They were just subconsciously linking together things that they had never thought to combine in the past, and it made them truly shocked. This was simple for Leonel. All he needed was access to the Dream Plane of the world and the methods of the Forgetful Orb.

When he connected the Stars of the Incomplete World and formed the Natural Force Art that refined it into power, he always added something special to the core of that Natural Force Art. That something special allowed his brothers to connect with all the minds of the living species in the Incomplete World and then use a Forgetful Orb on their insights to make it feel like their own.

The insights of a single person in an Incomplete World were lacking and could be quite weak. In a lot of cases, they might even steer you down the wrong path. But there was a phenomenon in psychology that noted that if enough people acted together to make a decision-without being influenced by one another-the majority usually ruled in favor of the correct path.

Of course, in a world like this one, it was impossible for the beings to not have influence over one another. After all, they were all using pretty much the same advancement methods and the same Paths. But the difference was that they were separated by so many worlds, Domains, quadrants, galaxies, and things of the like, that when they all came together, it was effectively the same thing as being uninfluenced.

Plus, because of the actions of the Forgetful Orb, the insights didn't feel like the insights of other people. Instead, it felt like the insights of his own brothers. As such, they wouldn't accept something that was completely contradictory to their former thoughts unless there was very good reason for it. In the end, they ended up having several breakthroughs in their Forces even as they traveled around.

When they were together like this, they would usually be talking and bantering. But this time, they were all staring off into blank space. If not for Leonel herding them like sheep, they would have long since gotten lost in the endless void without a way to return. However, Leonel didn't interrupt them, smiling all the way like a kid on Christmas morning.

The last of them was Drake. Drake was the most difficult because he was well on his way to creating his Gun Force, but because it was a solo venture, it was impossible to find a world that would help him along with that. However, Leonel had another idea entirely for Drake. Rather than helping him create his path, why not just give him the supplementation he needed to perfect it? Thanks to that, Leonel ended up landing on this Incomplete World.

It was a world of Eye Technique users much like that pink-haired girl Leonel had met during the Complete World selections. The number of marksmen, bowmen, and crossbowmen in this world was obscene. It could be said that upwards of 70% of their entire population relied on such methods of attack. It was a world that Leonel had thought about absorbing as it would help him greatly as well, and it also happened to be the last of the worlds that he had found while on his trip around with Aina. But it was also because he had found this world that his Dreamscape sparked and gave him the idea to do this.

The moment he saw this world, that spark of lightning connected the other worlds he had seen and he knew what he had to do. Content © 2024.

"This one's for you. Have at it."

Leonel slapped his palms together and his eyes flashed. He pressed a hand to Drake's back and everything churned and changed.

Drake felt the sudden wave of enlightenment hit him in waves and at that moment, the void shook and rumbled. Constellations formed in the skies and reality creaked.

In a far-off location, the Idol Battlefield shook once more. But under astonished senses that could vaguely sense what was occurring over in that region... A new statue was being formed.

Leonel felt like Drake's aura was about to blow him away, but his Divine Armor appeared and his gaze sharpened. One after another, black military garb and more pockets than Leonel could count formed across Drake's body.

Then the guns began to appear.

Two .50 caliber desert eagle-like guns appeared on his hips, a long, sniper rifle appeared on his back, and then came the body armor, plates of black that covered his chest, one of his shoulders, his knees and his shin. A golden swirl of light surrounded him and a violent tempest of Force skyrocketed.

Then, it happened.

It was a pair of eyes that made Leonel's heart shake and shudder. He had never seen one before, but he was somehow certain of what it was nonetheless. An Idol. Drake had become a God.

"Fucking hell," Leonel cursed. "I think I did a bit too well."

Drake skipping over the Creation State and Dharma State to form an Idol was one thing. How the Gods would react to a God being on the lower Plane and from the Human Race at that was a completely different one.

Even so, Leonel burst into laughter, his booming cadence somehow matching the momentum of Drake's breakthrough. Who cared? Hadn't he already pissed the world off anyway?

He would be glad to oblige some more.