- Resemblance

[It's LIVE people, this is NOT a drill! Official Vampire Empress Aina art available on my instagram right now :) >> @awespec_ ]

[Can't believe I'm sharing these goodies with you all... should have kept her to myself]

The bronze lights slowly coalesced, forming in a transparent orb. It looked no different from a polished crystal ball except for the faint light it gave off.

Leonel rolled the ball between his fingers, a curious light in his eyes.

As though sensing something, his hand suddenly squeezed into a fist, shattering the orbs of light and causing a mysterious energy to surge into his body.

The moment Leonel felt this energy, his eyes narrowed.

Now that Leonel had learned his lesson, he no longer used Soul Force, at least in its normal form. Whenever he deployed his Internal Sight or used his magic, it was now all controlled by his Dream Force. Over time, he came to realize that this did more than just give him a basal boost to his abilities, there were some more interesting and insightful tidbits as well.

For example, when Leonel used his Internal Sight now, he felt that he was more sensitive. It wasn't just that his range had grown explosively, but he felt like his attention to detail was far greater. If he used his Internal Sight to smell, Leonel felt that he was even better than most beasts at this point, and that was just one instance.

So, when Leonel observed the changes to his body now, his attention to detail was far greater. He could see his blood moving through his veins and arteries, he could see nerve signals firing within his nervous system, he could even see the perforations in his bone leading to his marrow.

As a result, the moment the energy entered his body, Leonel almost instantly understood what it did.

It was identical to the energy he received from the Puppet Master. Though in far lesser quantity and quality, this energy was able to open up the path of bottlenecks that lay before him. Albeit to an very small extent, he felt the bottleneck to his Tier 5 Metal Body loosen just a small nudge, a nudge he might not have even noticed before.

Leonel nodded to himself. 'So it's like this…'

There were many eyes trained onto Leonel. But this made sense. If they had to choose a person to display any sort of greed over, it would definitely be him. After all, the legend of Raylion had been firmly implanted into their minds for years already. But, Leonel didn't pay them any mind as he turned to Aina.

"It's good stuff, though it won't be very helpful for now. It's like the Puppet Master energy."

Aina nodded, understanding without Leonel needing to explain further.

Force that loosened one's future path as opposed to directly upgrading one's strength was the most sought after. Though Leonel hadn't bothered to ask the dictionary about it, this sort of Force was extraordinarily rare and could only usually be found after killing Variant Invalids.

This fact alone should prove the level of rarity assigned to this Force… A Force named Life's Breath.

It was the rawest and truest form of Life Elemental Force. And, the fact that it was appearing in the Variant Zone of a Fifth Dimensional Bronze Organization just went to show that this place had evolved far beyond what even Valiant Heart knew it to be.

Ignoring everyone else, Aina and Leonel walked forward together.

Realizing that this hall would likely be an endless road of battle, Aina brought out her battle ax, her light steps making it seem that this Brazinger family Heirloom had the weight of a feather when it reality… It was likely far heavier than even Leonel's Heavy Domain Spear.

Before the group could react to the movement of the couple, they had already taken down the next two guardians and had already moved on.

"It feels good." Aina said softly after crushing the orb and allowing the Force to enter her. owns all content.

"You can't just casually say that kind of stuff now." Leonel said 'seriously'. "Someone might take it the wrong way."

Aina turned and gave Leonel a glare, but all she found was a man trying his best to stop his lips from twitching.

Aina's current voice was really too seductive. Anything she said could easily be taken out of context. Yet, simultaneously, she had a presence no one dared to blaspheme. It was an eerie combination that could drive a man wild.

Luckily for Leonel, he didn't mind lewding his own girlfriend, even if she did have the presence of an Empress.

The one thing Leonel would never feel is inferior, he had always pursued Aina with his head held high. If she was an Empress, he would be an Emperor. Plus, someone had to put a baby in the Empress right? Of course it should be him!

At that moment, the others seemed to have recovered, presenting a new problem to the group.

With only two guardians appearing each time, but there being 12 of them, how exactly would they decide who battled?

The logical choice would be that since practically everyone aside from Radlis and Sarrieth had come in pairs of two, they should allow a rotation of six with each pair getting a shot.

But, this sort of logical and fair route… Would it really be accepted? Leonel had thought of it long ago, but he already knew it would be rejected by Raylion and Aphestus, so why would he waste his breath?

As for majority rule? That only worked on the weak and those who thought of themselves as weak. And, obviously… Raylion and Aphestus wouldn't think of themselves in this way.

As expected, when Leonel and Aina made it to the line of the third pair of guardians, a sharp wind pierced toward their backs.

The couple simultaneously each took a step to the side, separating from each other by a measure as an arrow soared between their shoulders and splintered the forehead of a guardian in two.

Leonel sent a casual look back to find a young man with features he seemed to recognize grabbing an orb out of the air. However, though Leonel recognized his features, he didn't recognize the man himself.

'Family member? Cousin? Most likely sibling… Balthorn.'

Leonel's mind completed the circuit in a split moment and realized that this person must be an elder brother of Balthorn's. And, from the looks of it, he was a member of Bear Rose.

For some reason, though he was clearly the Vice Leader, the Leader, a petite young woman only tall enough to reach his shoulder, seemed to differ to him. In fact, this Bear Rose 'Leader' was among those struggling against the mountain pass' pressure.

Leonel couldn't help but be intrigued by this dynamic.