Leonel's didn't expect this kind of response. A battle to decide who would become the Idol of a generation? But if this was the explanation, then... why did he already feel like he was one?
It felt odd...
What Leonel didn't know was that the Phenomena he caused was sensed by the Gods.
The Idol Battlefield was a location that moved without rhyme or reason, and it was impossible to keep tabs on it in the long term.
It could be said that the only reason this battle only took place once every few generations was because all the time in between was spent finding exactly where it was.
It was hard for even the Gods to understand exactly what the Idol Battlefield was all about and why it was formed in the first place. The stories were so old and had grown so muddled that it was difficult to place a finger on exactly where their origins lay and what was truth from fiction.
All they knew was that the Idol Battlefield always disappeared after its winners were crowned and it only appeared again when there were a sufficient number of candidates prepared to do battle once more.
But even now, the Idol Battlefield seemed far more agitated than usual. It was much too far away from the normal reaches of Existence for anyone other than the most powerful to feasibly travel to it, and yet it was making such a commotion.
This was the first time they had found the battlefield before it was within their range. It traveled through a vast nothingness, the regions of Existence that the Northern Star had already rendered to not even a memory.
For it to suddenly throw such a tantrum...
What could have happened?
Even without understanding, many Weapon Masters began to sharpen their weapons, readying themselves for a battle of ages.
According to its former speed, the Idol Battlefield should have taken hundreds more years to reach them once again. But with how agitated it was now, would its speed still be the same?
In as little as a decade at most, or even sooner, it was very likely that it would rear its head once more and the bloodshed would be legendary.
With this anomaly happening, who dared to say that this event would be the same as the others? Who was to say that there wasn't some added specialness to this event this time around?
**
After getting the information he wanted from the Godlens, Leonel returned to the Dream Pavilion. He looked toward a few snow globes that hid the soul kernels from the former Dream Pavilion Deputies.
He had originally wanted to give one to Ramon. But he both ended up getting distracted and felt that it was no longer necessary... at least not for Ramon.
Ramon was following his own path and Leonel didn't want to interfere with it. Plus, it was hard to say how effective all of this would be.
Leonel's original plan was to use them like Forgetful Orbs.
With [Assimilate], Leone was able to give souls more permanency by anchoring them to an object. Depending on how he used it, he could force one of many effects.
First, he could increase the talent or the soul; he could increase the talent of the object, or... he could create something that could enhance a third party.
The first two were guaranteed, it was just that the last one was little more than speculation on Leonel's part. He actually wasn't sure if this was possible at all, but he had a good feeling that it was. There was no reason for it not to be.
Actually, ever since he stepped a half-foot into the Self Path, he had had this idea.
His father was only adept at using his own Self as a conduit for his Crafting. But as a descendant of the Fawkes, couldn't Leonel do more than that?
If he could take and control the souls of others, didn't that mean that he could use their "Self" as a conduit instead.
In that case, his Self Path would be even more potent.
As Leonel was lost in thought, his gaze suddenly sharpened as he stood up abruptly. A dense killing intent exuded from his gaze as he suddenly bolted.
Within the Segmented Cube, Aina frowned as she sensed the change in Leonel's mood. However, when she saw what was being reflected in his mind, her mood too took a turn for the worse.
What was happening here?
...
BOOM!
Leonel left booming concentric circles in the air as he ripped through the wind that stood in his path. His foot steps were so powerful that even the steps that he formed from his Emulation Spatial Force shattered as he rumbled forward.
By the time he was approaching his destination, his eyes were a fiery shade of red.
He descended from the skies.
Without even a single word, he fell like a meteor, a spear appearing in his hands.
BOOM!
When he hit the ground, the earth rippled out in waves. Large numbers of enemies were wiped out left and right, leaving nothing but motes of light in their wake as they were wiped from the face of the world.
There was only one Race of beings that would cause such a thing upon their deaths.
Invalids.
A large crack had appeared in the Human Bubble. Out from the Inbetween World, large numbers of Invalids surged out.
The mindless Zombies stumbled out. Many of them seemed even weaker than the first Invalids to appear on Earth, but many more reminded Leonel of the B-, A-, and S-grade Invalids that he had used to fear so much. Except this time, they were an existence that could threaten even his current self.
There was a reason Leonel was so absolutely furious.
There was only one reason these Invalids were here, and their target couldn't be anyone other than his wife.
Someone was targeting him and he had a pretty good idea of who it was.
It seemed that they had taken his mercy as kindness, not realizing that they had just moved their death date up.
Leonel roared, billowing smoke of destruction coming from the soles of his feet and the corner of his eyes.
