Leonel looked at the line of blood dripping down his fingers. He had the ultimate advantage, and yet he had still ended up suffering a blow like this. Any deeper, and the blow would have cut his windpipe. Of course, even if it had cut through half his neck, with his current vitality, that still wouldn't be enough to kill him. He had been eaten alive before, it was far more difficult to kill him than it would be for a normal human. That was probably also part of why it had been so long since he had used Dream Counter.
At the same time, it made him realize that the Void Race truly weren't to be looked down upon.
If Shan'Rae wasn't such a coward and had faced death at an earlier date, she would have been far more in tune with her Death Lord Ability Index, and in the end, it would have been enough for her to be a true monster. At that point, Leonel wouldn't have been able to hold back in his battle against her at all. He would have truly had to go all out, and it was hard to say if he would be able to come out on top in this situation.
However, now, that no longer mattered. Since her character was so lacking, he would just have to reform it into something completely different.
Leonel took a step forward and reached out a hand. His Dream Force surged and the world around him churned.
He could feel a great pull on his soul, a level of weight he had never experienced before.
Leonel was used to his King's Might Lineage Factor working even against those several Dimensions above him. But this was the first time he had felt such a struggle while using it against someone who was at the same Dimension as himself.
Shan'Rae's weight seemed to be transferred over to her soul itself. It wasn't just her body that weighed as heavy as universes, but her soul as well. Pulling it out felt like he was grabbing at stars and galaxies, his muscles flexing and his veins popping as he attempted to exert himself.
The two wooden rings on Leonel's fingers pumped with vitality, a roaring might coming from them.
"[Arise]!"
Leonel's voice boomed, the diamond on his forehead pulsing with light as the laws of the world twisted around him. The Mage Core tree in the halo that floated behind him whipped about wildly in an ephemeral wind, swaying back and forth as though responding to a powerful call of energy.
After all that effort, Leonel could finally see Shan'Rae's soul peek outside of her body. As though wrapped in countless chains, it pulled back, but Leonel's focus was on an entirely different level.
Someone who was alive couldn't shake his resolve, and someone who was dead didn't even have the right to fight back against him.
As he pulled, the golden key began to quake violently, fissures and cracks appearing around the Domain that it had created. Leonel could even hear the sorrowful, mournful cry of the World Spirit hidden within. It felt like its life was quickly approaching an end. If Leonel continued to push, there would simply be no going back.
That was when Leonel waved his other hand.
The Segmented Cube flashed out and appeared above the Golden Key. A link was formed between Anastasia and it, and suddenly it gained all the support it needed.
The quaking and quivering stabilized as blood vessels popped in Leonel's gaze.
He had already decided. Shan'Rae's soul was his, and whether it was her Ancestors or her own personal talent, neither would be able to stop him.
BANG!
ROAR!
Leonel ripped Shan'Rae's soul out of her body, and there was suddenly a huge drain of Dream Force that was ripped out of his own. He was almost sucked dry in an instant and had no choice but to pull out his Ten Stars, revolving his three Dream Force Stars to their fullest extent.
Dream Force from the Second Dimension poured into Leonel's body in droves, forcing Shan'Rae's soul to solidify.
Her body was quickly wrapped in layers upon layers of stifling aura. The universes that dotted her body shimmered with violet before they were quickly hidden beneath a valiant violet armor.
"My King!"
She roared, her voice echoing with such fearsomeness that it seemed that the world might collapse at any moment.
Leonel, coated in sweat and blood that fell from his neck and lips, looked down with an indifferent expression.
He realized now that the weight of resurrecting Shan'Rae wasn't just a matter of her weight and that of her soul, but rather also the heft of her Ability Index.
The Death Lord Ability Index was ranked shockingly high in the Life Tablet. Before she awakened it, it was only at the Gold Grade. But now, it was in the Life Grade. It was the highest form of Ability Index that one could receive.
But what was interesting about this was that now, Shan'Rae felt even more in tune with that power. That was because if awakening this Ability Index required experiencing death... then what did it mean to use it while you were truly dead?
Leonel had thought that after awakening Shan'Rae like this, he would have to put in a great deal of effort to find the resources he needed so as to not waste her. After all, if he was careless, she would disappear within 24 hours.
However, he could sense that Shan'Rae was resisting this 24-hour time limit due to the existence of her Ability Index alone.
Even if he didn't find something he could use for [Assimilate] and [Breathe] to work on her, she could last several days on her own. In fact, it should be several weeks.
'In that case, let's not waste any time.'
Until now, in all these battles, Leonel hadn't brought out his King Summons to battle with him.
But now, it was about time he unleashed true carnage.