Dimensional Descent

Leonel had thought a lot about the Rapax in recent days. Among what fascinated him the most, aside from their ability to escape detection of Internal Sight, was their odd use of Force.

This race of being didn\'t use Force like humans did. Or, rather, they might have only done so in part. They didn\'t pull on atmospheric Force and seemed to rely entirely on what their bodies could produce. It could be said that they were completely antithetical to much of the battle style Leonel had forged in recent years.

Because of his apprehension toward his Scarlet Star Force Innate Node, Leonel rarely if ever used his internal Force, relying entirely on outside measures. However, what was truly interesting was that after beginning to use his Nodal Pathways and Force Nodes as he should, Leonel was still very much certain that his efforts were different from the Rapax.

It was something deeper than just using internal Force, something more profound. Even when Leonel used his internal Force, it didn\'t seem as fused and one with him as what the Rapax could accomplish. It was clear that the Rapax were fusing with their Force on a much deeper level, a level Leonel couldn\'t fathom. And, that was when it clicked.

How was it that Leonel\'s Metal Synergy Lineage Factor worked? Well, his Bronze Runes became the conduit by which he could absorb the Essence of Ores and foundationally change his body. It etched onto his bones, his inner organs, and even his blood vessels.

When thinking to this point, was it truly a coincidence that the most powerful of the Rapax were known as Runed Rapax?

The mechanism was likely not the same, obviously. But, Leonel felt that it was highly likely to be similar. And, just like Leonel had Runes within his body that others could see with the naked eye, so too would the Rapax.

With that thought in mind, Leonel realized that this should have been the source of the Rapax\'s strength. They absorbed Force during their practice and infused it into the Runes. Upon doing so, they could assimilate with this Force, fuse with it, and make it their own, thereby strengthening their bodies manifold over.

So, why was this so important now? It was because all the precious source of Force that the Runed Rapax pulled upon was within its body, and it was precisely these sort of dense regions of Force that Anarchic Force liked to latch onto and swallow the most.

Leonel believed that if he could just make the Rapax suffer a wound, a deep enough gash that its blood flowed and the Anarchic Force could get a taste of, the creature would suddenly find itself in a predicament that it would be hard pressed to crawl out of.

"SKRREEEEE!"

Leonel slowly stood from the ground, a hand across his chest and ribs as the Rapax struggled and screeched. The size difference between the two was enormous and the strength gap was even more exaggerated. And yet, it was Leonel who stood, a cold expression on his face and his aura bearing down as though this was just the obvious outcome.

"There\'s no use in screaming." Leonel said lightly. "I\'ve learned in recent times that the higher up in Dimensions you go, the more reliant you are on the push and pull forces of Force itself. It\'s quite fascinating, really. Even a shout won\'t travel as far in a higher Dimensional world as it would in a lower one, let alone when the Anarchic Force is so great. Why do you think I dared to battle you instead of just running?"

Leonel had no idea if the Runed Rapax could understand him, but he didn\'t seem to care, his cold eyes calculating everything as the Rapax soon found it difficult to even stand.

The Anarchic Force concentration had been multiplied to the point there was practically no other Force to pull upon in this region. Maybe the only two existences that could survive beneath such a concentration was a little beast with Void Beast blood and a man who had spent the last several months torturing himself on an even greater quantity.

When Leonel seemed to have seen all he needed to see, he turned his head toward Little Blackstar.

"Yip!"

The little mink dove down. Unable to even resist at this point, the Runed Rapax could only put up a futile attempt at resistance before Blackstar exited out the back of its skull having entered through its mouth.

Before the Runed Rapax could die, though, Leonel sent it into a snowglobe. He had no way of knowing if the Rapax sent out signals after their death or if there was a method of keeping track of them. Though he was quite confident in the concentration of Anarchic Force stopping pretty much everything, given the fact the Rapax had become used to this environment over such a long period of time, there was no way of telling whether they had more sophisticated methods of dealing with this and Leonel didn\'t feel like finding out.

Coughing heavily, Leonel looked down at his chest. That one kick had almost broken all of his ribs. In fact, he was lucky that each had only broken in one spot. If not for his sturdy body, the result would have likely been countless little shards of bones piercing through his lungs and heart.

\'My healing factor is so slow in this world…\'

Leonel debated whether or not he should use his <Instant Recovery>. But, after a moment, he decided against it. He could still hang on.

Picking a direction, he sprinted out of the dense concentration of Anarchic Force. Then, taking a deep breath and bracing for the worst, he brought Aina out once again.

BANG!