Leonel seemed to slowly awaken from his odd state.
The Self State...
No matter how magical or amazing an armor of metal was, even when it was capable of fusing into his body, it was an external item.
Leonel had been trying to fix this issue, but then he remembered something.
His father, even at the end of his life, never used a Divine Armor.
Was it really the case that he had completely abandoned the path of the Morales?
He knew that his father was stubborn, but he wasn't stubborn to the point of doing foolish things just for the sake of it.
That was when it clicked for Leonel.
The ultimate Divine Armor was likely completely unlike an Armor at all. In fact, the ultimate Divine Armor probably reflected in the body not much different from how a Lineage Factor would appear.
It was a part of the body.
And now, Leonel had taken the first step down that path. In fact, he had taken a better first step than even his father, because right now his Divine Armor was the amalgamation of four Fallen God Beasts and a young Infinity Beast.
It had almost destroyed his body in the end, but in the end, he had been able to withstand it and his strength had taken another huge leap forward.
Finally, he gained the strength to look up, and his eyes flashed with a treacherous light. The space before his gaze cracked and fragmented, but Anastasia was luckily there to stabilize it.
"Stop destroying my world!" Anastasia grumbled.
Leonel chuckled and patted the little girl's head. He pulled her into his arms before she could react and gave her a big kiss on the forehead before vanishing.
"YOU-!"
Leonel had already vanished, and the little muddle-headed World Spirit didn't seem to remember that she could teleport anywhere she wanted in an instant.
...
"Are you doing okay?" Leonel asked Aina, who was sitting in meditation. Even after this while, she didn't seem to have returned to 100%.
Aina opened her eyes and looked up, giving him a smile.
"I'm fine."
"You should use the pods. It'll speed things up."
"I've tested out the pods these last few years and it feels like there's some... distortions in them. Resting is fine, but when you want to comprehend something, unless it's Time Force itself, you should probably avoid them."
"You're comprehending something?" Leonel asked in surprise.
"Yes. I feel like if I comprehend this, I can complete my third return to the Eighth Dimension quite quickly. But the resources I'll need will be a bit exaggerated."
Leonel chuckled. "More exaggerated than an entire Incomplete World?"
Aina smiled bitterly, and Leonel's lip twitched.
It seemed that he wouldn't be the only money grubber in their family quite soon.
Aina had completed five rebirths now. She returned to the Seventh Dimension three times, and this was now her second stint in returning to the Eighth. From his understanding, she planned to do this once again for three complete times for the Ninth Dimension as well.
It seemed that this one would be very different. Or, maybe, the year that Leonel had missed hadn't been so simple at all. He had filled Aina in on what he had experienced, but he had never really asked what she had done to return to the Eighth Dimension.
"What does it feel like?" Leonel asked, feeling curious. He wondered what breakthrough she was having.
"There's a technique in the Blood Sovereign Tablet related to a Domain of sorts, but I've never used it because it doesn't quite feel right.
"When the Blood Domain is activated, I'm snatching Life Force not just from people, but I'm using Blood as a vessel for the Life Force of the world as well."
"That sounds powerful. Why aren't you using it?" Leonel asked.
He was certain that it wasn't because Aina didn't comprehend it yet. In fact, in terms of comprehension, Leonel and Aina were probably in a plane of their own. The difference was that Aina's comprehension came from her Clairvoyance and Leonel's came from his Dream Force.
"It doesn't feel like it's my power, like it's missing something, and though it's powerful, it takes up too much energy precisely because it doesn't feel like mine. But the methods of the Celestial Terra felt like there was a hint of enlightenment for me in them. Especially the injuries it left."
"The injuries?" Leonel's eyes narrowed.
"It felt like it made my own body its battlefield. I was fighting both an external and internal battle. It was the first time I had ever experienced such a thing. Honestly, part of the reason I was so heavily injured was because I wanted to extend the battle to sense it more."
"Okay, I see." Leonel nodded. "Do you know what you'll need for your next breakthrough?"
If it was just an Incomplete World, it wasn't even that much of an issue anymore. Leonel could find it with ease.
"I'm not exactly sure, honestly. But I think the secret is creating my own World of Blood. And if it's about that, I'll need Blood... high-quality Blood... and a lot of it."
Leonel's eyes narrowed. "What exactly is 'high quality' and 'a lot' in your book?"
Aina cleared her throat. "I definitely need God Blood."
Leonel's lip twitched. "And by God Blood you mean..."
"None of the ones we've come across until now are enough. Their quality is too inferior."
Leonel let out a hollow chuckle. He had a feeling that that would be the case.
"As for how much... well, enough to fill a Bubble World to the brim..."
Leonel coughed.
And here he thought that he was the money guzzler, when in reality he had forgotten that a man's duty was to please his wife with his wallet.
Unfortunately, this time, he had no idea how he was going to do that.
He had to kill enough Gods not for their corpses to fill up a world, but their blood itself.
How many billions was that?!