Dimensional Descent

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The young man had no idea when Leonel's hand had appeared above his head. And yet, despite the fact there was no actual physical touch between them, he could still feel an undeniable pressure squeezing down, making his eyes feel as though they might pop out of their sockets at any moment.

The pressure was palpable, his knees shaking and bending, a cold sweat coating his back and forehead, and veins popping up across his body. He didn't even dare to take a step forward or back, in fear that any such action might lead to his inevitable death.

"Oh?" Leonel spoke again. "No response?"

A smile crept across Leonel's face, but the coldness that remained in his eyes made it feel like the call of a devil. The young man didn't dare to shift his gaze away, and yet he was praying and hoping that he could look at something else, anything else.

The impact on his psyche was even more damning than the impact on his body. He felt all the bits and pieces of his cobbled together confidence crumbling one after another.

Leonel shrugged. "You saw it for yourself, right? The only rules our supposed Overseer let us know of is the fact that I have to build cabins for myself. But, she never said what would happen if I just killed one of you and took it for myself. If my hand slipped and I made a mistake, could it really be blamed on me?"

Once again, Leonel's words were met with nothing more than silence. However, his smile only became brighter, morphing into a toothy grin as flickers of crimson danced within his eyes.

An oppressive fog of violet and red began to rise, his short hair dancing about ever so slightly in the upswing of Force.

"It seems that no one cares if you die. Goodbye."

Leonel's forearm bulged, veins dancing with power manifesting as he clamped downward.

The horrid screech of the boy came next. It was the kind of pained cry that sent shivers down one's spine. In many ways, it only made it worse that he was facing away from the few spectators that remained. Their own imaginations filled in the blanks for what kind of horrible expressions he was making with his head under that kind of pressure.

"That's enough."

The voice was calm and unhurried, and yet enveloped the whole of the surroundings.

Leonel's strength was snuffed out with a slight breeze, vanishing as though it had never been there. Even he couldn't help but be surprised. To eliminate someone's strength like that without hurting them in the slightest was definitely a shocking feat of skill. Leonel was very much impressed.

The young man collapsed to the ground, holding onto his head as he bled from his eyes, nose, ears and mouth. He looked as though he had been tortured for a millennia and no longer had the strength to pull himself back together.

However, Leonel wasn't paying attention to him in the slightest. Instead, he had turned a gaze toward the sky. Though the man was still much too far away to be seen by the likes of them, Leonel could finally make out his presence.

"The Void Palace has a strict mandate against killing. Its foundation is built upon creating the future leaders and protectors of the human race. You can push one another and battle for supremacy, but death will not be tolerated."

The voice and the man's presence vanished after this.

In truth, Cornelius really thought about letting Leonel kill the young man. If that happened, even though they wouldn't be able to punish Leonel the way they normally would due to the circumstances surrounding this matter, they could still expel him. That much would save them a great amount of headache in the future.

But in the end, Cornelius chose against this line of action. Petty tricks like this only worked against those with backing they could ignore, and only further with those who actually cared about semantics and curving around the rules. That man, though…

Didn't give a damn.

Cornelius' gaze shifted toward a certain direction, landing in an inconspicuous place. It was only for the briefest of moments but Ossenna felt as though her head had been dunked into a vat of dry ice. Her body tensed up, and even long after Cornelius had turned his gaze away, she still didn't dare to make any sudden movements.

'That brat actually dared to use me in this way. Just give me one slip up, just a single one, and I'll make sure to spank you well in your father's stead.'

Cornelius hadn't had such an immature thought decades and didn't even realize there was anything wrong with it until several days later. Unfortunately, over time, he would soon learn that this was just the kind of effect Leonel had on people.

Leonel smiled brightly on the ground. This time, the coldness that had suffused it was nowhere to be seen. However, the fact there was a young man writhing in pain on the ground before him didn't help his image very much at all.

"Thank you for your guidance."

Leonel respectfully thanked the invisible man above him and stepped over the young man who was still clinging to his head.

'That's one minor problem dealt with, but I still didn't end up getting an explanation for everything else. It seems I'll still have to find out for myself…' Leonel's gaze quickly swept the village and he entered.

He noticed a sign to the side that read: 'Village 0012'. It was likely, then, that this was just one of many. However, whether that meant that the True Selection would only encompass this one alone, or incorporate the others as well, was a relative unknown to him.

'I guess I should check the smithy first? I don't think there's much of a point in building cabins now at least from my current understanding. What good is a house you can only use for three hours? But, if there's a reason I should, then that answer would be found there…

'It's too odd that a culmination of geniuses from across the Human Domain, most of whom come from wealthy and well off families, would need the services of a smithy at all… There's got to be a reason for that.'