Dimensional Descent

BANG!

ROAR!

A hand clasped onto the side of a platform; Its fingernails bent and twisted; its tendons and ligaments rising like roaring veins that just might pop out at any moment;

Leonel pushed with all his might, the fear coming in waves; He had already reached his limits, the size of his body having been pushed beyond even the realms of reason; He stood several kilometers tall and even this was only just barely enough to catch the ledge of the platform;

Withstanding the barrage of thoughts of inadequacy, of giving up, of being unworthy, all while trying to climb to the very peak was difficult, too difficult even to put into words;

Even though he could feel the ledge. even though he knew well that he was just a single great push away from climbing to its peak. it still felt like he was falling into an abyss. the clutches of devils and demons waiting for him below. fully prepared to swallow him up whole;

His fingernails snapped and tore, rivers of blood flowing out;

His pinky's ligament gave out first. snapping like a steel cord and ripping his finger back at an awkward angle. The backlash was so great that it felt as though something had taken his finger and peeled it back to his wrist. wanting him to suffer the most unimaginable pain.

Another snap rang out and this time it was his ring finger that was peeled back almost like the skin of an onion; The strength of his body was playing sticks against him; Each one of his muscle fibers was like tempered steel. intertwined into a cord that layered the muscles and organs of his body; But because of this. when they gave out. the effects were resounding and devastating;

Every time one gave up, a bang would resound through his body as though a clap of thunder had resonated within his skeleton.

barely managed to peek

slammed his down on it, using it as leverage in an attempt to pull

face pulsing with veins and his teeth shattering one by one under the pressure like fragile porcelain

with all

ROAR!

weight pressing up on it. however

to snag a piece of the ledge, another

the ligaments of one hand were being snapped; that was because the tendons that connected

to repair the projection of this body; but by this point; things had been going on so long that he truly had nothing left; Even his overwhelming Dream Force stamina was running thin; This was the last body he had; he simply couldn't repair it; and if he fell here;

in the real world. it couldn't handle true damage to his soul; In fact. the only thing keeping him from dying currently was

of Leonel's teeth shattered beneath the pressure, cracks running through it like fissures in concrete beneath

forefinger on the other; These were the last two anchor points he had, the last barriers holding him

wasn't a hint of the pale violet remaining.

even know if he ever really had been fighting for something at all. All he knew

started off without much thought. He wasn't in any rush to suddenly become many times stronger and he had already become

feel a burst of motivation caused by an existential threat to his life or someone he loved, he would then raise his battle strength quickly in a short time, and then he would crush

different. He had just claimed a resounding victory, and yet here he was, struggling on the border of

chance, even if it was a small one, to take a step in the right direction… and to take that step before he faced something that even

why he was so unwilling