Dimensional Descent

 Black Sea

"Shouldn't you be preparing? Overlooking the battlefield? Something other than harassing the mother of your child?"

Leonel put on a shocked expression. "Harassment? This is just your husband tax. Are you not going to pay?"

"I'm paying in rearing your child."

"Ai, this never stops. You'll be using that for the rest of our lives, aren't you."

Aina giggled and snuggled up into Leonel's arms. These days, she couldn't stop smiling, she had even forgotten that she was supposed to take Leonel to go and see her father.

It wasn't on purpose, she had truly forgotten. Maybe this truth would hurt Miel more than anything else could. But the kind of hurt that Aina had experienced back when she learned the truth wasn't something that could be explained in a few words either.

Knowing that the mother she loved so much was originally just a tool for her own father's revenge was a hard pill to swallow. And to think that being used as such a pawn would cost her more than just her life…

If her mother had just died, Aina would be distraught, but she would still be able to understand it. That was the cruelty of this world.

But the torture her mother suffered wasn't something that could just be accepted in the same way. It was inhumane, and it was a torture that Brazingers obviously used quite frequently. The hatred Aina had built up over this couldn't be understated.

To know that her mother had suffered such a thing, that she herself had been cursed to suffer for years on top of that…

It was too difficult to accept… too difficult.

She understood that her father hadn't had such intentions when he started, and he probably didn't expect that things would go so far.

But in the end, he still bore some responsibility.

That said, Aina was right about one thing. Leonel probably should be learning about the battlefield and what he was going to be doing…

He just didn't want to.

He had no intention of fighting meaningless battles against the Four Great Families.

Neither the Fawkes nor those four families were interested in a victory just yet because they both knew that the depths of both parties was far too deep.

As such, these were nothing more than probing attacks and methods the two parties used to temper their youths and raise the prestige of their nobles.

It was a farce. A pathetic farce.

If Leonel was going to be fighting, he wasn't going to be doing so for clout points. He would be doing so to rip their hearts out.

As such, while he was being "escorted" to the battlefield for his "punishment", he paid no attention whatsoever because he never planned to play ball.

If he wanted to win this war, the first thing he needed to do was kick the chair out from under the Four Great Families. And that chair was none other than their backers in the shadows.

First, Leonel would attack their pockets.

He had already accomplished the first goal… but only in part. It wasn't enough. Even if he cornered the weapons and pills markets, there were too many other methods for the Gods to pivot to… let alone the fact that his Crafting still wasn't to the point of being able to do that.

His move would definitely corner the mass-production market, but what about the higher end? What about the weapons that only Dharma and Idol wielders would use? There were even many rich individuals who wouldn't touch his mass-produced items with a ten-foot pole.

At most, this move of his could grab a substantial portion of the market, maybe about 10 to 15%, but it wouldn't be enough to overturn the skies. Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

If he wanted to do that, he would need more. And it would be just convenient enough to do exactly that since it would be killing two birds with one stone…

After all, he still had to make the Sylvans pay for their actions. They must really think that he was easy to deal with.

They didn't like that he had taken two of their kind? What would they do when he started killing more?

A cold light flashed in Leonel's gaze.

…

The battlefield was located in the Inbetween World… Or rather, a place that had the feel of one, but was in practice much different.

A black sea spread out for as far as one could see. It wasn't water, but rather had the thickness of crude oil. From time to time, there would be a solid mass floating with it that could make one's heart shudder.

This sea was none other than a concentrated mass of Anarchic Force. The solid masses were the greatest concentration of Anarchic Force in existence, capable of rendering even the strongest Ninth Dimensional experts helpless.

The battlefield was one fought on these waters, and the various battles actually occurred on makeshift landmasses crafted

 by the two parties. Often, these landmasses would be temporary, being destroyed beneath the overbearing Anarchic Force within just a few days. The people that had once called that land mass "home" would then have to weather the storm themselves as they built a new one.

It could be said that this was probably the most grueling battlefield in Existence… aside from just a single other place.

Leonel's face became more gloomy when he saw this. According to Anastasia, he had been out of it for three years. That meant that his wife had actually been fighting on this battlefield all this time.

His overprotectiveness nearly began to boil over and he wanted to find those Four Great Family bastards right this moment to teach them a lesson.

But in the end, he pressed it down. This wasn't what he was here for.

Before he took the next step in his plan, he needed to find where they were getting help from, how this help was being provided, and to what extent they would provide this help.

Once he did, his revenge would begin.