Dimensional Descent

[Thanks to Mr. Ham (6/6)]

It could be said that Somnus' words were excellently timed. He had given up on trying to deal with Leonel in a head-on confrontation. If they played a game at Leonel's pace, they would end up losing.

"I don't believe that you're acting with good faith, nor are you in line with the spirit of the Gathering of Minds. If it was just a matter of your abrasiveness, I could let it go. But commandeering the rules of the event in order to avoid exchanging ideas about what amounts to half of our purpose for being here... are you looking down on Force Pill Crafters?"

It was an accusation that held a lot of weight, and one that had the potential to be extremely dangerous depending on the situation. Who didn't know that Force Pill Crafters were far rarer, but also held far more influence as a result?

"If I might make a suggestion to help get things back on track to avoid turning this into a farce..."

Somnus looked toward Aerin and Lyra, both of whom almost immediately paled. "Please challenge him in the alchemy stream after he takes his turn. It is a bit unfair, but I believe this was your original intention, correct? This way, you get to force him into the challenge you wanted originally."

Somnus' plot was quite clever, and unavoidable.

It was distasteful to use his status to pressure Aerin, but as he had said, Aerin had tried to challenge Leonel in the Force Pill Crafting Stream before, that was his first choice. Somnus was just giving him an opportunity to do it again.

So, instead of looking like he was pressuring Aerin and Lyra, it actually looked like he was helping them.

But that was just the first layer. Once this round was finished, it would be Talon and Somnus' turn again. Leonel could turn that down, but then it would be Celestia's turn once more. At that point, what could he do?

There was a hole in this plan... or so it seemed.

According to the rules, Leonel didn't have to participate anymore after completing three challenges. He had already completed one, his turn was coming up now and that could be the second, and finally Aerin and Lyra would be the third.

After that point, Leonel could just pat the dust off of him and leave. And because of Talon's loss, he would have accumulated far more points than anyone else. A Demi-God World Spirit was too valuable to even scale properly, it would probably be hundreds of points at worst. That was more than enough for Leonel to be number one.

But there was an obvious flaw to that line of thinking as well...

had to actually accept his challenge. If they just rejected him outright, it obviously wouldn't count as a challenge and following his "battle" with Aerin and Lyra, he would still need

was an excellent plan. Truly

of them choose to stand on Leonel's side at the

Of course not.

the crowd of failed participants, looked toward one another, greatly worried. How could they not know that Leonel was only going through so much trouble to protect Aina? If not for

at Somnus

me angering you within the rules is to have everyone challenge me

the rules? Now, if you would please proceed with your

everyone

Whether he participated or gave up

onto him, Leonel's gaze

Crafting. I've heard that they're supposedly the best," Leonel

grit her teeth so hard that they seemed like they might

"We refuse."

met Celestia's and she felt a

they challenged Leonel and let him win, it wouldn't change anything at all, they were like cogs in Somnus'

Lyra who seemed to be wearing a similarly helpless expression. "We challenge you to a contest of Force Pill

glance over that made Aerin feel as though

"Sure," Leonel said lightly.

looked toward Lyra. She was the

of the battle. When they were ready to begin, Somnus

moment, are you the Force Pill

a problem?" Leonel

was a judge of collaboration abilities. If your wife is just there for show, it means that you would have been disqualified before the round of debates even

Leonel asked