Dimensional Descent

BOOM.

The situation had just reached a lull. The task force under Liana had entered a rhythm, slowly and systematically taking down one Blood Clone after another, hoping that the next one would have Leonel without.

In the end, Liana realized that it was far too slow, so she separated the group and expanded the task force, even giving them the right to act on their own. The swifter they were, the better, because something told her that Leonel had actually not stopped creating Blood Clones yet. If he created two for every one they found, would this ever end?

However, no one could have expected the first explosion.

Liana stood in a daze, watching an apartment building go up in flames.

It was a brief instant, practically a flash bang that appeared and vanished in the next second.

But as fast as it was, what it left behind was even more devastating...

That being nothing at all.

It was nothing more than a pit in the ground, a well of nothingness, empty air and fluttering strands of dust and debris.

Dead? They were all dead? Just like that?

Sergeant Moe, the task force member that had been about to clear this building, stood in stunned silence. Everyone looked toward the direction of the explosion with solemn faces.

They knew what this meant immediately. Leonel was fighting back again; they just didn't know how he was doing it.

Anyone trusted enough by Liana to work on this task force was in the know about Leonel's origins. They were all still working under the assumption that he was a Fifth Dimensional brat from an Incomplete World that just happened to have some more difficult to deal with abilities.

It should be hard for Leonel to leave a scratch even on normal dirt and clay, let alone their structured buildings.

It should be even more difficult for him to harm their citizens. Even the weakest here should be able to kill Leonel with a well-timed sneeze. If it wasn't for the fact they didn't want to alert the population and publicize their incompetence, they could have already released wanted posters and felt confident in letting their people hunt him down.

The fact they hadn't done this was part of the reason Leonel was able to move through the city so freely, but now they felt that it was almost good that they chose against this.

Just what would happen to their people if they were so careless?

Sergeant Moe's gaze went red. Just how many women and children had been in there? And yet their existences had been snuffed out? Just like that?

BOOM.

He had only barely managed to register what happened here, when it happened elsewhere again.

BOOM.

The series of explosions continued. Each one was perfectly controlled, eviscerating just the building being targeted alone, and only activating when the task force member entered range.

It was predictable. It was repeatable. It was a weight on their conscience that sought to pull them into a fiery abyss.

The message was clear.

Keep looking for me and your people will die.

Liana had no choice but to call back the task force, her eyes red. So many innocent people were dying all for this one boy's life, was it even worth it?

...

BANG!

Vivak threw his desk against a wall, its body shattering into countless pieces. By this point, his rage had bubbled over into an endless tide. His blood itself practically boiled beneath the surface of his skin, his fury towering and endless.

He had retreated to his office in order to display his true emotions. He couldn't handle the looks of confusion and doubt being pointed his way again and again.

He had endured silently for so many years and never expected that things would ever reach this point.

"I want him dead!" He roared, the entire compound quaking despite the fact his voice was isolated.

...

Leonel took a glance at his Segmented Cube. Within, large groups of unconscious people lay.

Those flashes had actually been mostly a facade for a forced teleportation.

While he couldn't teleport out of this barrier, it was possible to use Anastasia as an anchor to teleport people within this city so long as he had strong enough material to withstand it.

After gathering so many of those high-level ores the Godlens were using to create those farming Zones of theirs, Leonel had a lot of such stabilizing material in hand. More than he could even use.

He didn't really do this out of the kindness of his heart, though. These people were useful for many reasons.

One, and most obvious, their disappearance would enrage the Godlens further and potentially open up a path for mistakes to be made.

Two, their Ability Indexes would help to bolster his contribution points and he might be able to find something useful within to help his brothers and the others.

Three, and most importantly to this task at hand, he could use their blood.

Of course, if he had wanted, he could have just kidnapped these people the normal way, but how would he piss off Vivak that way?

"These people aren't you, I can probably only make one or two clones with each of them. Because you don't want them to be controlled by their original selves, I'll need more blood than usual."

"I only really need one each. And I don't even need all of them at that. After all, if they all appear at once, then it'll actually ruin my plans. I just need a handful."

...

And then it began. A storm of cries and pleas for justice, for explanations and reassurance.

Dozens of people who had just lost their families appeared one after another, raising hell, and why wouldn't they?

Their families had just inexplicably been wiped off the face of the world and the Godlens main family was actually trying to stay quiet about it?

Worse than that was that Vivak, who was too infuriated even to speak to Anselma, had no idea that they were Blood Clones.

The worst part, though, was that even if he had known... it wouldn't have mattered.

The best scheme was the kind everyone knew was right in front of them, and yet had no choice but to step into anyway.