Dimensional Descent

Rosen sat back in his chair, still staring as though he had already forgotten how to speak. He wasn\'t normally a man of such few words, but facing this boy, he seemed to have become a mute.

"Since things are like this, it might be best if we lay out all the cards. We\'ve been speaking through coded phrases and tacit head nods for too long. Don\'t take this as my insulting your intelligence, I simply want the line to be drawn as cleanly as possible.

"You gained the right to change the rules of the True Selection as you deem fit, the greatest control over the Senate\'s actions for at least the next few decades, and you\'ve also… given your rising star an advantage over the competition."

When Xavnik said these last words, Rosen\'s pupils constricted. Though his heart remained steady and his expression remained indifferent, even for a person like him, there were certain ingrained reflexes that couldn\'t be easily circumvented.

It seemed that he had still underestimated this brat a bit too much. He had thought that Xavnik would try to humor him a bit, but who would have thought that he had something like this up his sleeves?

"There\'s no need to be so surprised, senior. It was a bit obvious, don\'t you think? Why would the mighty Unfettered Blade Party risk falling from the good graces of the Void Elder Legion and offending so many powerful families and Organizations just for the sake of sending a batch of youthful geniuses to their deaths?

"A lesser person might really believe that Senior was a traitor of the human race, wanting to cripple this generation. But, you know something that most don\'t, right?"

Xavnik smiled. "I was racking my brain, trying to figure out what reason you could possibly have. I decided to think outside of the box. Rather than assuming the obvious and believing you to be a traitor, I made the assumption that this benefitted you in ways that were rooted outside of just a weakening of the human race.

"At the same time, I realized that this might have been a death sentence for most other years, but considering the talent of this generation, it was more likely that such a challenge would result in casualties no greater than any other year so it would balance itself out…

"And that was when I stumbled onto a clue. I heard your family has a young one that calls himself the Sword Deity?"

Xavnik smiled meaningfully, looking toward Rosen who had already regained his composure. From the first sentence Xavnik had spoken, he had already expected much of the rest of this.

"It\'s quite interesting. Being a Void Palace disciple gives you access to a whole other world, but the restrictions are heavy. You can\'t even set foot onto a Void Battlefield until after having accumulated enough merits and if you fail to gain access to one fast enough, you get punished with demotion nonetheless. It\'s an odd push and pull where on one hand, it looks like everyone is coddling you too much and on the other, they want to thrust you off to your death.

"I\'ve heard, though, that the situation of your Suaird family is a bit precarious. The Tribulation of Sword Domain is coming u very quickly but the inheritor of this generation hasn\'t grown up yet. In a situation like yours, I would be stressed out as well. Unfortunately, your Sword Deity isn\'t much of one just yet.

"Unlucky, if you ask me. But, you\'re trying your best. The Void Battlefield is the most unique opportunity there is for your Sword Deity as it represents more than just a death trap. However, you simultaneously also needed a reason to use the Void Palace\'s resources for your own personal gain without breaking any rules.

"We all know that the Void Battlefield is a land of death to some, but to a select few… It can be a land of opportunity…

"You know, as a Morales, I never really liked swordsman, you\'re all quite annoying to me. However, for the sake of my goals, it seems I have no choice but to help out the enemy.

"The only unfortunate thing is that while I understand this much, I still don\'t know how much you could possibly gain from this. I wonder what target your Sword Deity has that\'s so important that he must risk his life in this way and can\'t wait just a few years to be let onto the Battlefield naturally."

Xavnik scanned Rosen\'s expression but could only sigh when he didn\'t receive the answer he was looking for at a glance. It seemed that his deductions would come to an end here, but he didn\'t seem to be too disappointed. In fact, his smiling expression was still very much there.

Suddenly, Rosen smiled.

"Do you believe that you\'re the only one with deductive abilities? I personally found it very interesting when I heard that there were only two Amethyst Tokens given out this year. That\'s quite a low number, don\'t you think?"

Xavnik chuckled. "It is quite a low number. So, imagine how surprised I was when I found out my littlest cousin is among them?"

Rosen\'s smile faded, his eyes narrowing. Xavnik was too calm. If his goal was truly to kill Leonel, he should be sweating buckets. Such a large movement wouldn\'t fool that man.

"Oh? You thought I wanted to kill Littlest Nova? What kind of big brother would I be if I planned all of this out to do that? My goals are much higher than that. I wasn\'t even aware that Littlest Nova would be joining with this batch until just a few hours ago. By then, all of this had already been set into motion.

Xavnik sighed. "It can only be said that Littlest Nova is unlucky. Or, maybe he\'s quite lucky. I guess it would depend on the outcome, don\'t you think?"

Rosen\'s gaze narrowed firmer.

Xavnik stood. "Well, this is unfortunate. I wanted to have this meeting so that we could clear the air. But, it seems that we\'ll be ending this meeting with more questions than answers"

Xavnik smiled lightly and walked toward the door. "Have a nice day, senior."

With a light click, the door closed.

What was the purpose of the Sword Deity on the Void Battlefield? What was so important that Rosen would risk public ire to allow him this chance? Xavnik had no idea.

But, on the other hand…

What was Xavnik\'s goal? Why would he, as a polearm wielder himself, cripple the strongest Party capable of backing him? … Rosen had no idea.