Maybe the only person in Existence who dared to call him such a thing was this woman right here.
His name was Zephyrion, he was a mighty warrior, a man who struck fear in the hearts of even the Gods.
And yet this was also a woman he didn't dare to offend so lightly, either.
Only a fool would believe that the Demoness was here for the sake of protecting her descendant. She almost certainly had ulterior motives, and what those were remained unknown.
The Demoness continued to smile when Zephyrion didn't reply. Instead, she spoke herself once more.
"Know your place, Little Zephy. It wouldn't be nice for us to have a falling out."
Without another word, the Demoness vanished and the Variant Invalid Emperor's grasp on time returned.
He didn't believe that the Demoness had ever displayed this sort of power before. Even if she was scheming, she would do so in a way where many wouldn't understand her bottom line. If you thought yourself to have seen the true strength of the Demoness, assume it was 20% and you'd have a far better outcome.
This display of power, though... it was completely unlike her. Almost as though this time it wasn't a ploy or trick, as though this time she was truly enraged.
Zephyrion fell into silence and turned a deaf ear to his surrounding cabinet members. He wasn't sure what to make of this.
"Leave the Dream Asura be," he finally said many hours later. He didn't bother to check if his cabinet realized he was referring to something from over half a day ago by now and simply vanished.
**
Leonel watched as the various Dream Force experts of the Human Race took his new creations.
Some of them were orphans, some were heads of households, some had been gangsters and others nuns. He had taken them all in, not giving them a choice one way or another.
In the past, his morality would have won out and he would have given these people the right to self-determination. But there wasn't time for that. There hadn't been time for that in a long while already.
He took them first and didn't bother to ask questions later.
By now, it had already been over a year since he had Anastasia find them. They had long since acclimated to the situation, and today they were shocked to receive such an opportunity.
One after another, they began to breakthrough.
After a year of guidance, most of them had already reached the Third or Fourth Layered State, the latter being a step away from Quasi Impetus, which was a step away from the Impetus State.
There were a handful that had already reached that Quasi Impetus State, and there were even two that had reached the Impetus State all on their own: Cindra and Eamon.
Eamon had been guided by Leonel for a long time already. His progress couldn't be understated and though his talent was weaker than Cindra's, he had a certain plasticity to his mind that made him very adaptable to both his circumstances and that of the state of the world around him.
Cindra, however, was on another level. Her ability to incorporate Light and Dream Forces together was exceptional. Her ingenuity had also shown Leonel the flexibility that Light Force could have.
Cindra hadn't awakened to her Snow Star Order status until late in life, so she had a lot of patchwork and guesses making up her foundation.
When she gained the talent to fill in those holes, she didn't lose the creativity that came with it, instead succeeding in forming an all-new powerful path.
Leonel's bar for these two versus everyone else was vastly different. In fact, he hoped that these two might form their Sovereignties today.
If their Dream Pavilion had not just one Sovereign, but three, they would leave the Pavilions beneath the top 100 far behind.
Leonel watched intently as they took the modified Forgetful Orbs, standing in silence as their auras began to grow and magnify.
From the Lower Impetus State they moved to the Middle, then to the Higher, then the Peak.
Time ticked by and three days passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.
Cindra's aura began to wane, and Leonel shook his head. It seemed that she wouldn't take that step.
He should have known. She was a Snow Star Order, not a Wise Star Order. Her use was rooted in battle, something that she was a skilled expert in.
Not all Dream Force experts were weak in combat, but most experts in combat did not have Dream Force for a reason. The two weren't mutually exclusive, but there also wasn't significant overlap.
'This is fine. Her gains are huge anyway-'
BANG!
Leonel's gaze sharpened as he turned his attention to Eamon.
To his shock, Eamon hadn't formed a Sovereignty, but he had broken into the Life State. This was out of Leonel's expectations. He hadn't expected anyone to take that step.
Eamon must have received a bout of inspiration from somewhere. This last step was taken by him alone. The Forgetful Orb didn't have the juice for such a change.
And yet, Eamon wasn't finished.
A flickering crown came into and out of existence atop his head. It was nowhere near as resplendent as Leonel's own, but it was no doubt the hallmark of a Sovereignty.
'Is this related to his Ability Index?'
Eamon had an analytical Ability Index not much different from Leonel's own. The trouble was that it was a lower level and rather than granting perfect Control over one's body; it granted limited control over one's soul.
Even so, it gave Eamon the ability to draw connections and conclusions that most would be unable to.
This was an excellent pairing ability with his Talismans, but Leonel didn't expect that it would suddenly help him to make such a great breakthrough.
A grin appeared on Leonel's face. It seemed their Vast Dream Pavilion would have two Sovereigns from now on.
