Leonel took a breath and closed his eyes. There was a shimmering aura around him, and his body seemed to almost be revving up like the engine of a well-oiled machine. He hadn't even held a spear in three years, let alone swung it. He spent all his time with his wife and children, not even thinking about battle outside of what he could teach his kids about it.

But now, stepping foot onto the true Idol Battlefield for the first time, he felt like a piece he was missing had finally come back.

He never shied away from battle. In fact, he loved it with every fiber of his being. It was just that all the battles he fought felt so high stakes that it would inevitably become suffocating after a certain point...

But maybe the harsh reality of it all was that it was precisely those high stakes that made it all so worth it. Maybe that was what made his blood boil and his heart bloom.

Leonel grinned wildly as his eyes snapped open.

In the far-off distance, he watched as a monument shuddered. It was odd compared to all the ancient airs fluttering around it. This one felt almost too modern by comparison... But that was because it was none other than Drake's Gun Force. The world shook as Drake established himself.

The rookie blinked in confusion for a moment before opening his eyes. The first person he saw was also Leonel, and he couldn't help but smile, before he was shocked by the two little tykes behind him.

Drake couldn't help but be speechless, seemingly piecing together the real story here quite quickly. While everyone else was banging their heads against the wall, looking for a way to survive, Leonel had actually been enjoying his new family.

He knew that Aina was pregnant, they all did. But they all also thought that Leonel was going to miss the birth and first few years of his children's lives.

In the end, Drake just relaxed and smiled. This was a good thing.

"Son of a bitch! I was working my ass off and this guy was just out frolicking about!" James appeared on the saber monument, with Elthor and Noah not too far behind.

"Language," Aina said with a frown.

James' next words were caught in his throat. "-Yes, ma'am!"

Leonel's brothers appeared one after another. Joel to the Glaive monument, Milan and Arnold to the Palm monument, Allan actually appeared on Drake's Gun monument several hours later...

Every appearance was like another weight off of Leonel's shoulders.

There was another rumble and the earth shook as yet another monument rose into the skies in the form of a machete. On its back, Hutch and Florin appeared.

While they were appearing, individuals that Leonel didn't know were appearing as well... including humans.

When Leonel saw these people appearing on the martial arts monuments, he couldn't help but give them an extra look. Were these the Ancient Humans that Old Bow was talking about?

Speaking of Old Bow, though, there were quite a number of people on the Bow monument, many of whom were Sylvans. There seemed to be a much higher concentration of them there, and Leonel could only say they were lucky that he had rejected the Regulator's teleportation to spend time with his kids.

Otherwise, they would likely all be dead right now.

But...

There were also existences that Leonel didn't expect... like Anya appearing on the Scythe monument.

There was also Minerva who appeared on the sword monument, but not before Amery had. There was also Vaelgor of the Beastmen, wielding a silent but deadly sword on his back.

Anya and Minerva both looked toward Leonel, a swirl of complicated emotions in the depths of their eyes. Leonel didn't seem to pay much attention to them at all.

When they crossed eyes with Aina, she only wore the same carefree smile, only giving them a glance before speaking with her children and introducing them to everyone one by one.

There didn't need to be large manifesto. Anyone could see with a glance which among the three of them had won... not that it had ever been much of a competition to begin with.

"Hey, ladies. I'm single, you know!" James called out.

"Me, too!" Milan roared out, drowning James' voice. "Look at this belly? How nice would it be to cuddle with every night?"

"Fuck-I mean, fudge, Milan. There are two of them. How about you take the white-haired one, I'll go with the pink angel."

"I like it, I like it." Milan nodded seriously.

The two women weren't in the mood for such jokes. Even if their mood had been fine, they wouldn't have taken kindly to their words.

A murderous intent flared in their gaze, but before they could do much of anything,

the world rumbled once again and Leonel's monument began to shine. At the same time, the Bow monument shone.

Leonel sneered.

Even now he was being targeted. But so what?

What difference did it make?

He took a step out and Leo and Leah screamed because they thought their father was about to fall to his death...

Only for him to walk on the air as though it was solid ground.

"Whoa..." Leo was shocked.

"Mommy, can we do that too?" Leah asked, her large golden eyes blinking.

Aina smiled. "In the future, of course."

Leonel took another step, and then another, a rhythmic cadence blooming with his

every motion.

The Bow monument still hadn't even decided who to send out. They were all powerful experts, there were no weak links to force the hand of.

"He's only in the Seventh Dimension. There are no more restrictions here. Let me kill

him."

"He deserves to die by my hand."

"I should go."

The Sylvans seemed to be the loudest voices.

This was the final leg of the Idol Battlefield... a battle for supremacy amongst the

Weapon Forces.

BOOM!

Leonel's aura flared and he suddenly attacked the Bow monument.