BECOME...
Suddenly, Leonel understood how it was that the Demoness managed to stay out of his way and his timeline. She was always above the timeline... she had always been.
The scale of her game was unfathomable, and it was hard to tell if Leonel had even grasped it all. Today, he was lucky that he was observing Florin fight, or else the link between Time Force and his King Force wouldn't have clicked in the way it had.
Had he made a mistake not making his King Force his Idol? Was he being too greedy? Too arrogant? Suddenly, Leonel's playful expression completely disappeared. After all of his improvements, a bit of his former arrogance had begun to appear.
He had forgotten that it was in his very nature to be confident and unbothered by everything. He had purposely chosen a route of Dream Force that was opposing to this so that he didn't make the same mistakes as in the past, but he had still almost fallen down the same rabbit hole again...
A rabbit hole where he had even begun to underestimate the woman who had the entirety of Existence in the palm of her hands.
Even if he hated her, he had no right to look down on her. And in the most extreme of cases, he had no choice but to respect her.
A light glowed between Leonel's brows as he refocused himself.
He knew what the problem was. He had successfully formed his Innate Node which incorporated his Sovereign Weapon Forces. And that had left a gap in his mind that could be exploited.
His Sovereign Weapon Forces were just as arrogant as his Dream Force of old, and he had allowed them to begin to influence him back to his old path again.
The path to change was a long one, and it was one you would likely have to spend fighting along for the rest of your life.
People didn't just change in one instant and remain that way forever. It was a constant trudge of work and effort.
The solemnness of Leonel's aura deepened as he reached a state of calm.
'I can't allow this to happen again!
He looked up into the air to find that Elorin was slowly beginning to turn the tides of battle. His thoughts were hidden behind the placidness in his eyes, a radiant sort of calmness coming from him.
He had to make a change. If he couldn't flip the chessboard he was on completely, there was no telling what might happen.
The trouble was that there was no way that the Demoness didn't know this would happen. The sudden and final attempt to rise of the Pluto should most definitely be within her plans.
In that case, using it to leapfrog and change the situation was almost impossible.Têxt belongs to .
He needed something deeper, something more shocking, something that could overturn the understanding of the world.
Leonel looked off into the distance, seemingly locking eyes with something that most couldn't even begin to see.
The Idol Battlefield.
He didn't want to do this so soon. He was too weak right now. Being at just the Seventh Dimension wasn't enough.
He could easily be trounced and die if he wasn't careful. And the other problem was that his wife was soon about to give birth. It wouldn't be more than another few months at most, and the Idol Battlefield trials would certainly last even longer than that.
However... the Idol Battlefield was his only option.
Not only was it the only way for him to even hope to reach the Ninth Dimension as quickly as possible...
It was the only way for him to change this situation.
Doing it so quickly and so suddenly was exactly what he needed... he needed to move so fast that even he, himself, was taken off guard, let alone the Demoness.
This was the only way forward, and he would have to take it.
When he made this decision, he calmed to the point his mind reached an unprecedented state of peace.
A risk? Certainly.
One that he was willing to take?
This was even more true.
Leonel finished the Craft in his hand and tossed it over. Then, ignoring Elorin and even whether he would live or die, he vanished into the Segmented Cube to find his wife.
Aina rested on Leonel's lap, her head against his chest. He had already explained everything to her, and she understood his decision. Looking down at her still growing belly, she couldn't help but wonder if she had been too willful with this choice.
Maybe Leonel was right to want to avoid having children all this time.
However, just as she was having these thoughts, Leonel's large palm rested on her belly, feeling the strong kicks that were coming. The soothing feeling made them both smile.
"Don't do anything foolish like entering a time warp. Even after you give birth, you can't leave our baby's side, okay?"
Aina smiled bitterly. Leonel really knew how to read her thoughts.
But she had already decided that she could do that. Unless she also wanted their baby to grow in a time warp as well, it didn't make sense to suddenly give birth and then hand their baby off to someone else.
"I will try to be back before the birth. There's no place I would rather be, Leonel said softly.
Aina placed a hand on Leonel's and they both felt the kicking together.
The Demoness had ruled so much of their lives, dictating too much. There was so much pain and suffering related to her directly or by proxy.
Even Leonel's death didn't seem to be enough to jump from the board, and when he met her again, she might very well be using the one Force that was his absolute strongest.
She was a true monster. And if Leonel wanted to surpass her, he would have to be even greater, even more indomitable, even more of a monster...
He would have to become the King he always wanted to be.