Leonel took deep, heavy breaths.
As the domain faded and Little Blackstar hopped back to his spot on his head, the last shards of sparkling crystals shattered and collapsed before the barrel of the sniper rifle.
Firing with enough Force to kill a Tier 2 Fifth Dimensional expert was really almost too much for him. It wasn't even necessarily the Light Elemental Force, but rather the construction of Earth Elemental Force he needed to use.
Leonel shook his head, his face a bit pale.
He looked toward Manson's corpse, seeing the large hole through her heart. He could only say that he was quite lucky to have Little Blackstar.
The reason the old gentleman had never mentioned the little mink wasn't because he underestimated Blackstar. This was a man who had spent precious moments pouring over the footage for even the smallest detail. He would never forget to mention an odd little mink that seemed capable of sitting completely still even in the face of so many Fifth Dimension experts.
The real reason was because the old gentleman had never seen Little Blackstar to begin with.
Little Blackstar liked to be in his incorporeal form. This form allowed him to continue to benefit from his Shadow World, continuously growing stronger with every moment.
When one was in the presence of Little Blackstar, you could see him in this form, anyone could. You could even hear him should he choose to allow you to. The issue, though, was that… cameras couldn't.
Had the old gentleman questioned the miners under his charge or those who had personally gone to the arena, they might have been able to tell him that Leonel was followed around by an odd little mink. However, how could he know to ask such a thing? Especially when time was already so tight?
The result was the old gentleman being completely unaware of Little Blackstar, leading to the group being caught completely off guard.
Of course… It also helped that Little Blackstar was already at the Quasi Fifth Dimensional level. The little guy might not have had as much battle experience as Leonel or Aina, but he definitely had far more raw strength.
When this was paired with Leonel directing him in battle, the duo wasn't to be trifled with. In fact, Leonel believed that he had almost neglected the little guy too much.
Blackstar was still an infant, yet he was growing so fast. If it wasn't for a cap in resources caused by Leonel's absence these last two years, the little guy would have already entered the Fifth Dimension. Leonel understood that he definitely needed to direct Blackstar's growth with more purpose and caution.
Leonel smiled lightly, scratching Blackstar's little head. He tried to use his talisman, but once again, it didn't go through.
'Let's move from this place… That panda-eyed man's ability won't be very useful to Little Blackstar in the future. But, it's decent for now.'
There were too many weaknesses to Panda's ability. If not, how could Leonel have dealt with it so easily? Had he not been saving his Domain and his stamina, he could have blown that fake 'domain' away, and anyone with a strong comprehension of Universal Cycles could do the same.
The good news was that the ability was more powerful in Little Blackstar's hands, but not enough to make it lamentable to give up in the future.
Leonel gazed toward the corpses around him and shook his head. Their abilities weren't worth taking either.
With a flash, he disappeared down a corridor, finding another location to finish his ship.
…
By this point, the planet was completely surrounded. Ships of massive proportion hung around in a silent orbit, all focused on a single task.
They all understood their task well. Failure would not be allowed. The prestige of the Milky Way Guild was on the line. To fail to capture the young man that had so publicly slapped their faces would be a failure of epic proportion. It could not be allowed, and they all knew it.
Within one of these ships, in a luxuriously decorated cabin, there was a different atmosphere. While the others might have been filled with a horrid weight, this one was filled with rivalry, youthful vigor, and most important, condescension.
"Even in death that little bitch couldn't do anything right. First she brings home some Fourth Dimensional piece of trash, and now she causes all of this trying to get revenge for him. I swear if I could, I would dig her up just to bury her again."
The voice came from a snarky young woman wearing a fiery red dress. She would have had the elegance Heira had when she was alive if it wasn't for the perpetual sneer that upturned her bright red lips. It was hard for one to decide whether they wanted a taste of her beauty, or if they would prefer to just punch her in the face.
Her two elder brothers, though, didn't seem to want to correct the attitude of their little sister. In fact, the look between their brows seemed to suggest that they wholly agreed. This time, Heira had really screwed them.
The Milky Way Guild wasn't exactly in a precarious situation. In fact, they were stronger and more powerful than ever.
The trouble was that any decline in all of history was almost invisible to those at the top. Their father, Guild Head Ovilteen, had drilled this into the minds since their minds since a very young age. The more powerful they were, the more the weak would want to ban together to knock them down a peg. The only way to avoid this was by being so powerful that no one dared to do even that.
Their father was on the verge of entering the Sixth Dimension. Once he did so, they would finally move forward with the next of their plans and bring the guild to a bigger stage.
And yet, just when they were on the cusp of an even greater height, this happened.
It was simply unacceptable.