Minerva carelessly threw the corpse to the side as the other discarded Ancestors watched on in horror.
The last of her grievances vanished, and at that moment, her aura flourished. She took a deep breath and her presence soared, her Dream Force leaving the Lower Creation State behind and entered the Middle Creation State.
At the same time, a crown of silvery-pink appeared above her head. Her gorgeous wings shone resplendently and the scars that marred her face ugly faded away.
When she opened her eyes once again, her crown still seemed to have not faded... or rather, it seemed to not want to fade.
She had said it many times before.
She was an Empress.
This was what she deserved, and she would take it with her own hands.
With light steps, she returned to her parents' side, a pair of Owlans she had thought had died long ago. But what she hadn't known was that the erasure of her lineage, at least in part, was out of necessity.
Leonel had guessed right.
Many of the Owlans wanted to distance themselves from the Minervas so as not to enrage the Gods... but not all of them were cowards.
It just wasn't yet time.
And in an irony of all ironies, it wasn't a God forcing their hand now, but rather a child of the Human Race.
The rest of the Ancestors were herded away. Although they were far weaker than this secret legion, they were still all Ninth Dimensional, Creation State existences that couldn't be underestimated.
Elysium had allowed Minerva to kill Solarius and his family line in one part because he was truly disgusted by his actions, and in second part because he knew that this would be the final barrier Minerva needed to breakdown to reach a new level.
There were three pillars of strength in this world. Force Manipulation, Dimension, and Constitution.
The last was the most complex, as it incorporated everything from Race to Race Grade, and even perfect variations of talent within.
But it could also be said to be the one that held the greatest weight when all else was equal.
Among them there were several more powerful than Minerva.
However... she was without a doubt the most talented of them all. As such, she was the one Elysium most wanted to see rise. If that meant sacrificing a few Creation State experts...
So what?
They had made her suffer alone all this time. It was only natural they pay her back in some way.
"In the past..." Elysium said slowly. "... Our Minerva Race fell because we focused on Crafting. We were nave and sought to help the Humanoid Races by replacing the God Beasts of Creation, not knowing that it wasn't something that those selfish Gods could appreciate.
"Back then, in order to survive, we had no choice but to abandon that path and build up a new one for ourselves, one built on absolute combat power.
"It took time, and many generations, but we have now finally succeeded in fusing those two paths into one.
"Each one of you is not only an absolute expert of Dream Force, but you are also combatants that can shake the skies and pluck stars."
Elysium looked through them one by one.
"I have been suppressing the formation of my Dharma for many years already. Iam'Shi and Lori'Ven. I know that you two are the same.
"Three months from now, our opportunity will come. Our already ascended Gods will be prepared as well."
"What do you want us to do?" Minerva asked.
She had dealt with Solarius and Elrik, but quite frankly, she still wanted to deal with Leonel as well.
"Let the boy wreak havoc for now. He seems to be moving about randomly, but he has picked his battlefields well.
"If I am correct, he wants to extend this battle for as long as possible while making us convenient hubs of resource collection. Considering his astonishing rate of growth, this is only natural. He knows that once this battle ends, the entire world will come crashing down on the Human Race. He seems to believe that if he grows enough before then, the ire of even the Gods will not matter. He is truly confident in himself.
"According to reports, he has collected the corpses of many of the Void Race and Fallen God Beasts. At the same time, he always targets the most imbalanced battlefields and forces them into submission.
"Let him continue. It will give us time.
"When we are prepared, we can curb his arrogance."
**
Leonel sat in silence, sparks flying through his Dreamscape.
'Is that what they want to do...?'
Leonel found that he was unable to probe deeply into Owlan territory anymore. The only explanation for this was that Dream Force experts far more powerful than himself had appeared, and that alone was fearsome enough.
This was to say that he couldn't even begin to eavesdrop on the conversation that had just happened, but he had already guessed that a scenario like this might happen.
The moment he realized that Minerva's name was picked for a reason, the rest fell into place.
No, what Leonel had really been doing all this time was traveling across these lands to see if there was anything special he could find about them.
He couldn't seem to find anything at all, but then he had a thought.
Wasn't it odd that the Fallen God Beasts and Owlans were working with the Variant Invalids?
That alone was weird enough. Working with the one Race that everyone across Existence absolutely hated was a ... choice, to be certain.
The reality was that if the Gods found out about this, it might not just be the Void Race attacking right now.
What would make such a risk worth it?
When he thought about it that way, the answer was all too obvious.
Incomplete Worlds.
He had been too focused on the Bubbles, and not enough on what Incomplete Worlds might be around.
When he took a step back, entered the void, and saw the scale of it all, his gaze couldn't help but flicker wildly.
'It seems the Minerva Race is back.'
What he saw now, even he wasn't capable of just yet.
Only the strongest Crafting Race of the Humanoids could possibly think of something like this.