2167 Ceased to Be
Leonel's howls descended onto the whole of the Dimensional Verse. Those that were lucky enough to not be destroyed took cover, dodging out of the way of shattering glass windows and collapsing buildings. But the one thing they couldn't escape from was that sound, that howl that would haunt their dreams for decades to come, and even worse than that... the events that would happen afterward.
The blood of Scholars dripped from Leonel's fingers. His mouth had long since closed, but his howls continued to sustain. It was clear that these roars came not from his voice, but his very soul, an entrenched and impossibly deep pain that resonated through his very being.
It wasn't enough, it wasn't nearly enough. There hadn't been enough death, not enough destruction. He needed more, he wanted more. He wanted to feel more blood drip between his fingers, more bones cracking beneath his claws, more cries of despair to drown out his own.
He flashed and vanished, his steps moving impossibly quickly, and yet not at all. Reality warped around his being, and every movement he made was like another step on the hearts of those that were sitting and waiting... waiting to see just who he would target.
The Cloud Domain was in shambles. The existence of an Emperor to their Race was like a pillar that held up the skies. It was impossible that they wouldn't know about her death immediately, especially since they were so skilled in matters of the mind and soul.
They were in a state of both chaos and mourning when Leonel's howls reached them.
The broadcast to the Human Domain had not been sent to them, so they had no idea about what had happened. Only the highest echelons understood the mission their Empress had been on, and they had known the risks. But seeing the price they had to pay made it extremely tough to swallow. Now they had the responsibility to calm down the masses.
What they didn't know is that they might never get the chance to.
Leonel hadn't chosen the Cloud Race out of malice, he simply chose the closest Domain he could. There was a reason the Cloud Race had been able to infiltrate them so deeply. He cared about nothing other than making the world suffer.
He walked through the starry skies, walking across impossible distances. Every planet he walked by, whether inhabited or not, crumbled to ash. It took nothing more than a ripple of Dream Force and everything else followed naturally.
He moved even faster than a Starship could fathom. The news of the death and destruction spread fast, but not faster than his steps. Often times the news would come long after the planet had already shattered to pieces. The death count was already quickly approaching the hundreds of billions, and then began to push the trillions.
These lower level planets simply didn't stand a chance against him, and the barriers that protected lower level worlds from higher level existences entering them seemed to be entirely useless against Leonel.
He crossed into Fourth Dimensional Worlds, Fifth Dimensional, crossed that and entered Seventh Dimensional Worlds before going back down to Sixth, seamlessly and without issue.
The world was his to command.
The Eighth Dimensional world of the Cloud Race quickly got word of what was happening, their expressions warping violently. They didn't know about Leonel, they only believed that Velasco had survived and was now seeking revenge.
However, the who didn't particularly matter. Their race was taking devastating losses every minute that this continued, they had to do something. But their preparation didn't mean a single thing.
Leonel appeared in the skies above their capital, his howls growing so loud that many died just from the sound itself. It discriminated against no one, laying waste to everything in its path. Many died with their ears and eyes bleeding, their internal organs shattered to pieces.
Dozens of Ancestors began to appear in the skies one after another, many more rushing in from other worlds in order to close in on the gap.
Leonel raised his hand. His Scarlet Star Flames roared out of control.
He was enveloped in a ball of fire that expanded wildly. It surged out in all directions as the fine seals on his second Scarlet Force Innate Node completely shattered, forming two enormous Ninth Dimensional Innate Nodes in each one of his kidneys.
He didn't even need to face the members of the Cloud Race. He fell like a meteor, crashing through their planet and straight to the core of their world. His flames erupted like a roaring tempest, taking over the magma veins of their world and causing all of their volcanoes to erupt all at once.
The Ancestors rushed after Leonel, but an Eighth Dimensional World wasn't something that even they as Ancestors could ignore. Leonel using their natural phenomena to attack them was like killing two birds with one stone, destroying their most important world and killing their most valuable citizens all at the same time.
The eyes of the Cloud Race Ancestors went red, but they didn't realize that this wasn't Leonel sparing them, nor was it him avoiding them because he couldn't face them. They were too used to being infallible, they didn't realize just how much danger they were in...
Until it was too late.
They weren't able to react at all when it happened. All they saw was a sea of red and then the life that they had been so proud of was entirely snuffed out.
Leonel's shadow appeared within a surging geyser of magma. His fist was raised into the air, but it was already on its way back to his hip as his second pierced forward.
The speed of his punches felt both slow and somehow impossibly fast at the same time. Every time he punched, another flare of red-gold would form, burning the bodies of the surrounding Ancestors to ash.
He punched again and again, even after they had all died he was entirely relentless, his furious howls echoing through the skies.
That day, the Cloud Race of the Dimensional Verse ceased to be as it was once known.
.