Schemes and Meeting

After Leo left, the group stayed quiet for a while....well not for long

"....That went well?"

"It did, but what about the fo- nevermind" Celis paused mid sentence and sighed making everyone turned their heads towards the forest

"What the...." Aqualon's words trailed off as he saw the forest which was back to it's original state

There was no ice, no fire, no trails of destruction, nothing

Even the tress that were destroyed in the fight were back in their places as if someone turned back time

It was back as it was before the fight as if it never happened

Sorin was the most baffled about this sudden change

He was standing in icy cold hell one second and in next, the warm green forest

All it took was a blink and everything changed to the way it was

He gave up understanding what happened before flying off back to his base but not before taking a quick picture of the area

Meanwhile the group just continued staring at it

'So he wasn't lying about that part' Ava just deadpaned at the absurdity, while the trio tried to laugh it off as them being crazy, not believing something like that to be possible

Everything was going well until....something happened

Celis, Aqualon and Cera lost their smiles and made a confused face

Ava noticed this and asked "What's wrong ?"

Cera held her head and answered "I don't know....it feels....weird" She tried to make sense of the current situation but failed

For her everything seemed....wrong

"Cera?" Ava looked at her and Aqualon who looked paler than usual before she felt something foreign enter her core

'Huh?' She was stunned for a moment before she heard a scream

Ava turned around to see Regis who had fallen down in his elemental form

It looked as if he was breaking down

Ava tried to move but stopped

"Regi- Argh!" She lost her balance and kneeled on the ground by the sudden pain that assaulted her mind

She glanced around with great difficulty to see the trio already on ground, fainted in their primary forms

She tried her best to stay awake but the pain was too much

Before fainting, Leo's ominous words echoed in her mind 'If you survive'

Finally she couldn't take the heaviness of her eyes and fainted alongside others

The reason for that?

Currently there was too much spiritual energy surrounding them for a simple reason, the Spirit

During it's early phase the planet was rich and full of spirit energy and that's the reason why so many Emperors existed at that time

But after the Monarchs or Elemental Gods came, that energy diminished for a while before filling up again after Spirit kicked them off to some corner of the dimension

It became a cycle of sorts where it entered a period of low tide and high tide only instead of waves, it was spirit energy

A Monarch would rise, rip off a small portion before leaving and creating their own domains

Then the Spirit would fill it again from the space that surrounded the planet cause the energy existed like cosmic radiation but instead of gamma rays or X-rays, it is spirit energy

[Also the reason why the planet isn't toast cause the supposed 'Suns' just emit light....well technically it doesn'temit light but fire particles or fire element in simple words]

But after the Zorg fiasco and being driven to a forced slumber, the pure spirit energy started plumbing down until only elemental energy remained

[Elemental Energy:- Spirit energy that has taken form of a element after coming in contact with it during the unstable universe phase . From that point onwards this energy has existed in the dimension and aslo because of some usual tears or fractures from time to time. For every ten thousand element particals there is one spirit partical. 10,000:1 ratio, atleast in the place Leo's currently at (Elemental Side of the dimension or Region). The ratio gets smaller and smaller as someone travels to the pure spirit energy region where the Soul Stone is located]

The Spirit is the Will of that world, it's totally natural that everyone will think of it as close family and have strong bond with it no matter who they are, so understandably no one in the group had their guards against it

And now that it was awake, it was taking in vast amounts of that energy in order to go back to it's normal power level

Although Leo had tried his best to contain it, he couldn't stop them being overload by a high dose as the Spirit was playing with them and was in close proximity

He had still managed to protect Ava and Regis from the sudden overload due to the fact they were away from it and also avoided being influenced by it

Now why didn't this affect the entire world?

Simply because the level of spirit energy in the world was rising steadily but it was being drawn by the Spirit towards itself at a constant pace so the changes were not that noticeable for normal elementals

Of course the Emperors would've but they weren't at that level yet

It's also the reason why Leo keeps it close to absorb as much as leaking energy possible. He can absorb already filtered energy and aslo see how the energy flows in Spirit in hopes of creating a soul cultivation method or spirit circulation to passively absorb it

Two birds in one stone

But where is he ?

....

-Somewhere in the East region-

Leo was casually walking around with the Spirit on his head....well if you ignore the surroundings that were changing with each step he took

He was using a weird combination of Shunpo, Gepo and Soru....atleast a variation of Soru

You see the principle of Soru is to kick ground ten times in blink of an eye. Well he changed that a little bit, instead of ten kicks, it's just one compressed kick similar to tensing your leg muscles for a quick boost before start of a race

He was using:-

Shunpo: To create a platform of spirit energy sometimes from the surroundings or using his own for practice and as a way to smoothly use it on reflex in time

Gepo: To perfect his strength control caused by the boost from eating legions and some animals, he was a little bit off balance and not tuned to his normal state

And Soru : To perfect his muscle control and timing.....And just for the heck of it

He was currently using all those techniques in a random manner as chaotic as possible

Sometimes using Shunpo to flash away or just to create a spirit energy platform but not using spirit energy burst to propell himself and just using Soru

Sometimes using Geppo to kick the air without controlling the element and just by pure physical strength for a better grasp on strength control

Use too much strength and he will kick right through the air or create a turbulence that will destroy whatever's beneath him

Use too little and he'll fall

And sometimes, using Soru with addition to Geppo to look like he was teleporting from one place to another

And he was doing all this, while walking

Imagine taking a step forward and appearing in another location, he was doing just that

He would dissappear and he in a motion of taking a step would appear at least ten kilometers away and that distance was increasing with each step

Just as he was about to use the surrounding spirit energy as a platform, it vanished

[Hmph!] Ele threw a small fit on his head making the gathered energy below his feet vanish and almost crash into a tree

He stabilised himself by hurridely kicking the air and changing his direction "Stop moving" he said while holding Ele in front of his face

[No!] Ele crossed it's arms and pouted

"Why the heck are you acting like a Tsundre?"

.....

〔The following conversation is taking place between the Spirit and Leo and yes, Ele is still making 'Kyu Kyu' sounds but it's a spirit being and is capable of talking directly to soul or spirit (whatever floats your goat). So to others it would appear to be cutely making 'Kyu-Kyu' sounds, but to Leo it would be "YOU MO## *heavy censorship sounds* or just *Beep* &@*@PIECE OF *#!!*#!" .....You get the point

And as for the name

He came up with it, couldn't just keep calling it Spirit this and Spirit that

So he simply went with Ele....

Ele with an E instead of I〕

.....

[What's a Tsundre?] Ele asked curiously

He just sighed with a blank look "Too early for you kid, too early"

[Not a kid !]

He just sneered at that "Oh yeah? Say that when you're taller than me"

[Hey duck you!]

"Woah! Watch your language young man! And where the heck did you learn that?"

[Hmph not telling!]

"Ok fine....but why all the drama?" He asked with a raised brow

[Why did you let him leave?!]

"Here's a little life lesson kid, everyone deserves a second chance" Acts all sagely while making himself shine in light before Ele turned them off

[Say that to legions you slaughtered]

"Hey they tried to kill me and I killed them, they knew what they were walking into and they made that choice"

[So it's all about the choices?]

"Yup, in this fu- *Ahem* I mean in this crazy shi- Thing I meant THING we call Universe, everything is the result of a action causing a reaction which ended up creating this clusterfu-" he paused and Ele who just continued staring with a face that said 'I dare you to say that'

He looked away trying to avoid Ele's intense gaze and continued

"Actions have consequences. Geno had a choice and he took it so, his action of not doing anything led to me sparing his life. Similarly your choice to form a truce saved you"

Ele nodded it's head in understanding at the first part before catching up with the last bit

[Wait.....so you were gonna kill me !?] Ele shot him a look of betrayal

".....Are you kidding me?" He smiled at it brightly making it sigh in relief before saying "Of course I was " and left Ele with a stunned face

[But you said you didn't want to destroy this world!]

"That was before all the sudden revelations and to be honest, you were just one more ambush away from kicking the bucket" he answered nonchalantly before adding

"And I didn't lie about the 'not destroying the world part'....a little maybe? But you get the idea"

[And please do enlighten me on how you were planning to achieve that ?] Ele crossed it's arms and asked

"I mean technically I can just erase your consciousness and the world would be back to it's pre-awareness state so technically I wouldn't be destroying the world, just putting it back to how it was" he shrugged making Ele lose it's calm and throw another tantrum

[You're horrible!]

"And you figured it out just now ?" He just made a 'obviously' gesture and continues speeding off towards the empire

[...]

"....."

Both of them didn't say a word and continued traveling....well Leo was the one walking Ele was just chilling on his shoulder

[So, what's the real reason you let him leave] It asked again

"What gave it away ?" He asked curiously

[You had that creepy smile on your face when he chose the 1st option]

"Looks like I still need to work on that part huh" he muttered to himself while rubbing his chin

[Don't dodge the question]

"Well, I'm curious...."

[About?]

"When given a choice between survival and power, which one will they choose"

Ele stared at his widening grin before sighing

[You are making that face again]

"I am?" Leo touched the corner of his lips and fixed it back to his default normal smiling one

"Better?" He asked Ele

[Better....and you already know what they're gonna do, don't you?]

"Nope~"

[Liar]

"Aw come on! Have a little bit of faith in me will ya?"

[Like hell I will !] Ele spat out while flipping him off

Leo just laughed as they reached Lava Emperor's Palace

They snuck in and avoided the guards

Ele was staring at him with a blank look as he was acting like a ninja

[.....Why are we doing this ?]

"We are trying to get Nira"

[No I get that, but why like.... this?] Ele looked at Leo was currently sticking to the ceiling Spider-Man style and crawling around

"For fun?" He answered while searching something on a wall

[Are you a child?]

Leo paused and turned towards Ele and looked it dead in the eye

He pointed towards his body and waved his hands up and down as if saying 'take a look at this' and continued staring

Ele looked from top to bottom before sighing

[....okay I get your point, but do we really have to do this ?]

"Oh come on!" He groaned "Let me complete my bucket list will ya ?" And continued searching for something

[What's a bucket list ?]

"Things that someone wants to do but never got the chance to do it, so they make a list of those things and do it before dying, like a last wish.....Ah Ha! Found it!"

*Click*

With a click, a small section of the wall shifted to the side, revealing a secret path

Leo flashed a smug look and said "Ta Daaa~"

Ele had a dumbfounded look on it's face before returning back to normal and spoke in a plain tone

[I'm not even going to ask how you knew that]

Leo just smiled lightly with a nostalgic look in his eyes and went in

The opening closed itself behind them

As they continued, Ele couldn't help but notice his face that was going through various expressions

[What's wrong?] It asked in a concerned tone

Leo walked for few steps before stopping in front of a intersection going 3 different ways

"I want you to do something" he turned towards it with a serious face

[What?]

"Hit me wh-" *Bam!*

*Crash!*x6

Ele punched him in the face the moment he said 'Hit' and launched him crashing through several walls

"Let me finish first jackass!! " Leo screamed while getting out of the rubble

Ele stared at him for a moment before going 'Oops' and running away

Leo forgot his anger as he watched it run away before snapping

"Ok that's it! You're dead!" He chased after it

Stealth went out the window the moment he crashed so now they were causing mayhem all around in pretense of chasing each other

[You were right! This is fun!] Ele screamed while blasting everything left and right

"Your definition of fun is slightly concerning but you do you I guess" Leo shrugged and continued their game of tag

There was actually no need to all this but he was being petty

Why?

Let's turn back time a little bit shall we?

...

- Few minutes ago When 'Leo' died-

Magus was sitting as usual going through daily reports and stuff when he felt something

He glanced towards West where 'Leo' was battling Sorin and saw the scene of him turning to ice dust

'So that is his limit?' He sighed in his mind before turning to Kyro

"Where is Rena ?"

"The princess is playing with that... 'thing', your majesty"

"Call her and tell her to bring that thing too"

Kyro nodded in affirmation before telling a guard to fetch her

Few minutes later Rena walked in with Nira obediently following her

"You called ?" She asked cheerfully

Magus mentally sighed before addressing Nira "Your master is dead"

Nira looked at him confused and he took her confusion for dejection and continued

"You no longer serve any purpose for me so I shall grant you this mercy of letting you rest beside him"

If Nira could speak her words would've been 'You got some screws lose old man?'

Of course she couldn't but there was someone who could

"No"

Magnus glanced at his daughter whose usual cheery attitude was replaced with a cold look

"I'm keeping her" She said with a dark look with the hall getting a little windy

The moment he saw that he knew he couldn't do anything to the wolf

When Nadia had brought the wolf, his first thoughts were to release it in the wild but when he found out it was with the human, he decided to use Nira as a bait to meet him

Well, plans went to hell the moment he 'died' so he wanted to get rid of her but now he knows his daughter has become attached to it

With a sigh he leaned back on his throne and said "Fine....but you have to take care of it and don't let it scream at night ....again" he rubbed his head thinking about the nights when Nira went howling during full moon

"Okay~ Love you Father! " Rena gave him a quick hug ran away immediately after picking her up

Magnus just shook his head with a small smile while Kyro and others sighed in relief

There's a good reason why they nicknamed her the 'Fiery Tempest'

And you don't get that title just by being a pretty princess

...

-Back to the ongoing destruction-

Leo was currently strolling around the destroyed castle while humming some random song with Ele swaying with it

Guards did come to stop them but they all fell down the moment they came within 10 meter range

The rest tried attacking from a distance away but weirdly enough every attack missed them and caused more destruction

All they could do was watch helplessly as they went around breaking walls

They both stopped in front of a door

[Is this it ?]

"Yes....remember when I said hi-"

*Swoosh*

[Tch]

Leo quickly ducked, avoiding a kick and deadpaned at Ele who had suddenly taken interest in castle wall

He continued staring daggers at it before sighing

".....Just stay there and act cute"

'Ohhhh this is gonna be awkward' He thought while opening the door and walking in

As soon as he walked in he froze after seeing the scene in front of him

Rena was holding Nira in a choke hold with the room all messed up as if someone made a home tornado

°Sapientdreams - Pastlives starts playing°

He smiled slightly as his vision overlapped with a scene from his vision before glitching back to present

"Rena"

"Hi?" She responds in a confused tone

Time slowed down for him till the point it stopped

Leo's view was still glitching between present and future before it eventually split into two parts

He saw the present Rena still confused and saw the future Rena holding Ivy on each sides

Leo had a small smile on his face as Rena was showing Ivy some wind birds with Lec running around

Just as he was about to walk towards the future version he paused

Rena was looking right at him

He saw the grown up Rena just shake her head side to side

She smiled and whispered 'It's alright'

Just as she said that everything blurred before the scene of him holding her appeared

She had a smile om her face as she muttered the same words

Time started flowing normally as Rena asked him

"Do I know you ?"

He chuckled a little bit before responding "No...you don't"

She was still on guard and asked "Do You know me?"

Leo closed his eyes and sighed before opening them with newfound clarity "I thought I did....but it was someone else"

The future Rena smiled at him before waving goodbye and his vision stopped glitching

As he was feeling a bit down

*Smack!*

°Music stops°

Ele hit him in the head making him start another round of chase

Rena, although confused to why a random human child knows her name, started laughing after seeing them battering

Leo and Ele stopped fighting and laughed alongside her before someone barged in

"Having fun?"

The trio stopped and turned towards Magnus who was fuming with rage

'Oh crap!'

Rena cursed in her mind thinking about how to get out of this situation. She glanced at Leo who had a smirk on his face

"Father I can ex-"

"Rena, silence" Magnus flared his Aura and continued "You have some nerve co-"

"Okay maybe we can skip the villian talk and just get to the point shall we?" Leo cut him mid sentence with a smile

Magnus was about to blow his fuse when a heavy spiritual pressure decended upon him

"You threatened to kill my pet, this is just a little payback"

Elementals of the entire castle were planted on the ground, trembling with only three exceptions being Rena, Nadia (who was blissfully unaware of the ongoing situation) and Nira

"Now then...." he continued while still keeping the pressure "Nira, let's go"

Nira looked at Leo before looking back at Rena

She bumped her head to her chest and Rena hugged her

"I'll miss you" She whispered silently

Nira whimpered a little before walking to Leo

Leo picked her up and left after giving Rena a slight down nod (a goodbye nod)

After he left, Magnus kneeled on the ground panting heavily

"Father!" Rena quickly ran towards him "Are you alright?" She asked worriedly

Magnus just waved his arm and dismissed her

His eyes had a calculating glint in them as he thought about pros and cons of going against someone like that

"Father..." Rena spoke making him glance at her

She didn't say anything and just shook her head side ways before pointing at the destroyed walls

He saw her rare serious face and knew what she meant

'He was able to get in, almost destroy our home and made you kneel without even doing anything. Don't even think about it'

A logical choice which forced him to think about this. The cons outweighs the pros. The loss would be too much,everyone possibly dies.

He reluctantly nodded and gave up the idea of revenge

Leo who was walking through the volcanic region suddenly felt irritated about something

Ele noticed the slight shift in his demeanor and asked [What's wrong?]

"Don't know, feels like someone escaped from my web" he said with his eye twitching a little bit

Ele looked at him with a speechless expression and thought 'This guy' while shaking it's head

Now, there are some things that went unnoticed by everyone

First:- Why didn't he get Nira the moment he calmed down ?

Second:- Why did Rena let Nira go after almost fighting for her?

Leo had planned everything from the start

-First, he knew he had to meet Rena to let go of his future self attachments.

Remember when he said your journey or your memories are what makes you 'you'?

Now what happens when you suddenly get 300 years worth memories with strong emotional bonds and add to the fact when a certain someone decides to add those to his current memories?

You get overwhelmed

His already fucked mind got divided into two parts. The present and the future. Of course the future version didn't take much but it was still dangerous

The only reason why that version didn't take over is because of firm Will.

He knew it was a problem the moment his vision glitched. He was slowly losing his individuality

So the plan was to meet Rena and be done with it

You can say it was equivalent of letting that version say his last goodbyes

.

-Second

The reason why Leo stayed with the commander group was to observe what effect Ele will have on them....aside from being drunk on spiritual energy

And the results were as expected

(No need to explain that....again)

So he let it tag along to make her more suggestible making her decisions a little bit clouded and to let her guard down. Not to mention being seen as a harmless kid helped

So win-win

.

[So...now what?] Ele asked as they travelled back to Sun Forest

"Aren't you gonna send me home?" He asked with a questioning look

Ele raised it's brow at him

[Do you want to?]

He turned his head towards it and asked with a dumbfounded look

"That's optional ?"

[I thought you wanted to stay?]

"And I thought you would kick me out the moment I got this" he said while pointing at Nira who looked offended by it and was biting that finger

Both of them stared at each other before sighing

[You want to stay?]

"Of course I do !" He quickly took that offer and shook hands

Ele wanted him to stick around in case Zorgs attacked and Leo wanted to stay cause of a certain Eldritch being who was still waiting in boredom. He wanted to get as strong as possible because god or not, beings that control entire dimensions aren't easy to deal with

Well, luckily he knew how to deal with that. All he needed was a little bit of planning and time

And so he stayed....

.....

-200 years later-

Many years passed in a blink of an eye

Leo had travelled the entire world just doing random things

Fishing in volcano cause why not?

Surfing with ancient sea creatures

Making various weapons and other sci-fi stuff from the Zorg technology they left behind (he did scan their souls so he knows a lot of things)

Perfecting his spirit energy control to form different things like plants, fruits and sometimes animals

He can create anything as long as he understands the basic structure of that particular thing down to the last molecule and workings of each specific part

That's how he had managed to create the puppet. He just copied his body structure and made it using spiritual energy and split a small part of his soul to imitate his soul signature

So yes, copy and paste with additional changes of required

Over the years he has perfected his various skills he gained from his future self

Of course that wasn't the only thing that changed

Nira had grown up into a huge 20 meter wolf, courtesy of the beasts he hunted and not to mention the continuous spirit energy he was suppling her

She had developed a elemental core after Ele's help and had become a hybrid elemental. Powers of one without turning into one

Leo had figured out how they managed to control elements The moment he saw them and used his own ways to do it, so there was no reason to transform

All he had do was teach her how to control her power

It was peaceful for the most part with little squabbling here and there but it was okay

Now the time had come to go home

Leo was standing in front of a rift alongside Nira and Ele

"This is it"

[It is]

"Well...." he paused and turned towards Ele with his hand out

Ele glanced at his hand before taking it

He smiled and shook it's hand "...See you next time kid"

*Crack*

Ele smiled and applied too much pressure on his hand [Not a kid]

Leo just smiled and shook his head "Sure sure, keeping telling yourself that"

He walked towards it with Nira following him

[Won't she be a problem]

"Nah, I'll keep a eye on her"

Nira growled a little and nodded her head saying goodbye to Ele

Leo closed his eyes and walked through it

When he opened his eyes he saw a bright sky with bunch of mountain sized rocks floating around

Lava flowed through the ground and the land was dead

[Welcome]

A voice echoed throughout the world

Leo sighed and greeted the voice as if greeting an old friend

"Shuma" He raised his hand and....

*Squish*

*Burts!*

Shuma-Gorath burst into a puddle of blood

"I told you..." he looked at the puddle and continued

"Next time....you won't even get a chance to say anything edgy " he stared at it for few seconds before glancing at something from the corner of his eye

"Now with that out of the way...."

He turned to his side seeing a giant eyeball with tentacles floating and had a small smile

"Let's talk"

...