Dimensional Descent

Leonel was speechless. This girl was really an airhead. If it was so easy to 'cheat' in this place, why didn't everyone do it?

"Okay, okay. I cheated. But you still lost."

Kira glared at Leonel and began muttering to herself. Clearly, she was feeling conflicted. After all, their competition hadn't said that no such 'cheating' was allowed. So, Leonel hadn't done anything wrong.

Leonel laughed to himself as he could practically see the gears turning in her little head through her radiant blue eyes. He was caught between believing that this young woman was quite attractive and thinking that she was an adorable little girl.

Of course, Kira was at most a year or two younger than he was. But, that was neither here nor there.

"Fine. Fine. Fine. FINE!" Kira stomped her foot.

Before Leonel could react, he found a delicately sculpted vial being pushed into his chest in thanks to Kira's palm. He felt a slight cold sweat mat his brow because that airhead was actually still holding her saber at the same time. If she was just a little careless, she might have cut him in half.

"This…?" Leonel blinked in confusion, tilting his head.

The vial was filled with a dense red liquid. But, what shocked Leonel was that when he caught it, his hand almost crashed to the ground.

By the time he picked himself up, Kira was already at the edge of the light road, glaring back at him.

"Consider that as compensation. Oh, and remember that you only get to step off the road like this on your first attempt. During your second attempt, you're only allowed to quit after gaining a fragment of [Dimensional Cleanse]. Quitting at any other moment means death.

"Humph, I don't know why I'm explaining these things to you. You're clearly a cheater."

With that, Kira stepped off the road as though there wasn't an endless abyss below. Even Leonel couldn't help but slightly panic for her. But, before he could do anything, she had vanished.

Leonel's brow furrowed. He found himself hoping that she was okay. Even though she was an airhead, she had clearly helped him more than he could put into words.

And this thing…

Leonel's frown deepened as he struggled to pick up the vial. Even his fingers themselves struggled to keep their grip around it. If not for him still being in his [Star Force] form, he would have already dropped it with hardly any hope of picking it up.

Now that Leonel thought about it, even Kira hadn't exactly lifted it. She had pressed her palm against his chest, then took it out of her spatial ring, passing it off to him.

Remembering this, he couldn't help but chuckle. It seemed she wanted to get one more dig in before she left. At least she had a conscious, though.

"Hey dictionary, what the hell is this thing."

[ *Ping* ]

[ Replying to seed, this is an Ocean Drop Vial ]

Leonel raised a brow. He had meant the liquid within, but he had almost forgotten how specific he needed to be with the dictionary. Now, though, he was curious about this Ocean Drop Vial.

"What does an Ocean Drop Vial do?"

[ *Ping* ]

[It can turn an ocean's worth of liquid into a single drop. It is especially good at preserving the vitality of blood. It can decrease the weight of the liquid within it by a factor of up to ten thousand.]

Leonel's pupils constricted. Ten thousand?! And it was still so heavy?!

Wait, if it could hold an ocean's worth of liquid… Even a factor of ten thousand wasn't nearly enough!

"And what is within it?" Leonel asked slowly.

[ *Ping* ]

Leonel's pupils constricted once again, his expression becoming serious.

The lag between the *ping* and response was about a millisecond off. The only time this happened was when a recorded message was about to play. And if that was happening… It meant whatever was in this vial was important enough for his father to leave a message behind about it.

As expected, Leonel's ability never failed him. Soon, a shimmering hologram of his father appeared for the first time in a long while.

The projection of his father blinked, looked around, and finally focused on Leonel who was above it.

"Hey, brat. What's up? Been a while, huh?"

Leonel's face remained expressionless. Did this old man really expect him to fall for this same prank call bit again? He had already done it once before, he didn't plan on doing it again.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Leonel was no fool, he would just let his father's practical joke play itself out. He was more interested in hearing about just what was in this vial. The curiosity was itching at him.

"Huh? You can't say hello to your own father after so long? After all the years I spent raising you? After birthing you from my Seed?!"

Leonel's lip twitched. The old man was really laying it on thick this time, huh? He really wasn't in the mood. In fact, he was running out of time. With Kira gone, who knows if the spirits would start to appear again?

"Ah, I get it. You think I'm pranking you again. I had my fun already, it's really me this time."

Leonel remained silent, staring back at the hologram without a word. This game of chicken, he had no intention of losing. He could almost see the moment of victory when his father burst into a fit of laughter, saying it was a pre recording, only for him to not have fallen for it at all.

"Fine, fine." Leonel's father shook his head. "I get it, I can see that look in your eye. You're angry about something. What is it? Your little girlfriend dumped you?"

Leonel's eye twitched. His dad always had a way of reading his mind when no else could. After the Metamorphosis, Leonel almost wanted to believe that that was his ability.

"Listen kid, I always told you women were complicated. You spent four years chasing after that little girl, she probably thinks you'll always be there for her whenever it is she wants to come back, so of course she'll leave you. Let alone women, people in general can't appreciate something until they can't have it when they want it.

"Come on, talk to your old man. Us Morales men are better than this."

Leonel froze, his father's words echoing in his mind. "I…"

His eyes glazed over as though he was trying to think of how to respond when a boisterous laughter suddenly shook him awake.

"Fuck! Dammit! I can't breathe! Just imagining the look on your face! My son's a dumbass! You actually fell for it again!"

Leonel was speechless. He really had.

He suddenly felt the need to find where his father was right now and strangle him to death.