Dimensional Descent

Leonel shook his head. Maybe someone else would have been truly enraged by now. After all, making jokes about such a sensitive subject was enough to trigger a lot of people, especially when it was about themselves. But, Leonel had always been good at compartmentalizing things.

At least he hadn't said too much before his father went off. This old man was really getting more and more annoying with age.

The good news was that this was less likely to be a serious matter. After all, the last time a recording of his father was triggered, it was about the death of his paternal grandfather. Back then, there hadn't been any room for joking at all. In fact, Leonel distinctly remembered his father being on the brink of rage, an emotion Leonel had never seen on him before.

Since his father could joke now, at least that meant that this was a lighter matter…

Unfortunately, Leonel couldn't have been more wrong.

…

Leonel speechlessly looked from the dictionary to the vial and back again after his father's hologram faded. For a long while, or at least what would have felt like it with how many things ran through his mind, he didn't move or say anything.

Void Invalids.

If it could be said that Invalids were the 'failures' of the universe and Variant Invalids were among the greatest threat, then Void Invalids were the creature lurking in the night—not in the sense that they were a bedtime fairy tale, but in that they were an existential threat to all.

Invalids, as 'failures', were often the carbon copy of the races they supposedly failed from. Leonel had never thought about it before because all the Invalids he had ever come across were humans, but what if the Invalid in question was from another race? There had to be Invalid beasts, maybe Invalid Oryx, or Invalids of any myriad of other races… Right?

Void Invalids were Invalids of a particular race, a race that would have ruled over the Dimensional Verse had they still existed. His father called these creatures Void Beasts.

Void Beasts had never had a world to call home. They were birthed from Celestial Bodies and roamed space with the same freedom that birds roamed the skies. They swallowed worlds as snacks and burped out stars for relief. These were the kind of creatures that were simply far too beyond Leonel's understanding to grasp.

The current Leonel couldn't even sustain himself in the depths of space without special equipment. In fact, only Sixth Dimension existence with special abilities and upward could do such a thing. However, from infancy, such Void Beasts took what he would find difficult as a time of leisure.

only extinct, they had been devoured by the Invalids of

Void Invalids.

far as Leonel knew, Invalids didn't really have blood. Or rather, they did, only up until their death

Kira had given him was from the corpse of a Void Beast. According to the dictionary,

for hundreds of thousands of years, likely longer than even that. The dictionary had further deduced that the Void Invalid that killed it likely only snatched away

of a planet floating about in space, an endless river of red

even if you pointed in a random direction and headed in it without deviating to the left or right,

likely still true.

suddenly reminded of another thought experiment… If a tree fell in a forest with no one to witness it, does it make a

vastness of space without a friend or family to remember you… Did

friends… They could hold the fate

clenched the

only for such a boon to end up in his hand. Even though the potency was less than a

were. The small body of Earth's minks weren't entirely conducive to producing powerful beings. This was why Leonel needed to help

the easier he would be able to accommodate the strength of his ability, and the

Little Blackstar's talent shone through and he was immediately able to awaken the strongest form of mimicry: ability steal.

to prove just

Blackstar would progress after fusing with the blood of

...

was just as slow. He took his own advice quite well. Since he would be behind no

the time he gained to not only strengthen himself but to reflect and think was invaluable. With every day that passed, Leonel

technique Leonel formed using Camelot's magic system. He was able to further improve upon it by

used his body as a core of a star, combusting energy to boost everything from his strength

it would give him the strength of an entire Dimension above himself, something that proved just how fearsome Vital Star Force was. At least this was the case when the