Dimensional Descent

It was oh so very convenient. The logic was sound and there was nothing wrong with it in a perfectly neutral sort of sense. Taking Little Blackstar with them would definitely guarantee that it would be in Leonel's best interest not to lie to them, after all, he cared about his beast companion surviving, right? It was clever.

However, it was from that point that everything else collapsed.

Leonel owed these people nothing. Why would he leave his little brother with three individuals he had just as little trust in as they did him? On top of that, just because he hadn't said anything about it, didn't mean that Leonel didn't notice their shift in demeanor when learning that Blackstar was a Shadow Sovereign.

Just how convenient was this? They got to force Leonel to hand over someone dear to him, and in their minds, he would likely die seeking revenge and then they would get a convenient and very valuable beast to use or sell in the future.

Was there anything in the world that could be so good?

If it wasn't for Aina stepping forward first, Leonel would have likely already lashed out, his smoldering fury bubbling over to deal with these three before he met the thing that had put his little brother in such a state.

"I'll give you all three seconds to get the fuck out of my sight, or I'll make it so that you can't even if you want to."

Aina's aura pressed down on them from above and it suddenly became obvious why she was the only one who seemed completely unmoved by Leonel's own every time.

"You…" Roxane brows jumped, but the fiery glow of Aina's golden eyes seemed to suppress her impulse to react before it could even manifest.

A menacing darkness loomed over head and Aina's canines grew as delicate black patterns ran over her skin. The oppression seemed to triple in an instant, only growing with every passing moment that went by.

Leonel's gaze shifted from the three before them to the intricate tattoos forming on Aina's toned back. They followed her curves and gave her a bestial sort of aura that was highly enticing.

'Abyssal Panther…'

Leonel had almost forgotten that Aina had gained this treasure from Terrain and most importantly, had forgotten exactly what that meant and represented.

It wasn't entirely Leonel's fault… he hadn't been there when Aina first unchained herself from her curse and City Lord White had called her a… Blood Sovereign.

Leonel was still ignorant to this, or even what such a title even meant. But, what he did know were two things. First, Aina could do what other humans could not in absorbing beast blood and taking their strengths as her own. This meant she could essentially create any Lineage Factor she wanted so long as she had the blood to do it. And second, her existence was a lethal attraction to Invalids, and especially Variant Invalids.

In her rage, Aina's blood had begun to boil and her Abyssal Panther blood resurfaced, giving her a carnivorous edge.

The first second felt like an eternity, but the second second whizzed by so fast that it felt like they had been thrust into a pot of boiling oil. Their feet lit and their hearts threatened to jump out of their throats. Without a word, they dashed away, feeling the oppression about to suffocate them from all sides.

The three clenched their fists as they picked a tunnel to rush into, unsurprisingly in the direction of Leonel's finger.

'If I wasn't so injured…' Roxane's nails dug into her palms, soothing herself with these thoughts of revenge and excuses.

Ultimately, they were geniuses in their own right, how could they feel good about any of this? Now they could only hope that Leonel truly hadn't lied.

…

"… You didn't run into any Invalids while you were away?" Leonel suddenly asked.

Aina's back was still faced toward him and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off of her slowly receding tattoos.

Aina turned back and smiled like a blossoming flower. It was just a simple question, but its meaning meant the world to her. Leonel was actually asking about her wellbeing. She didn't think she would miss something so simple, so profoundly.

"A small bit. I entered a Sub-Dimensional Zone of the Silver Empire a few months ago and ran into some trouble there… But I came out fine."

Leonel's brows shot up when he heard the words Silver Empire. It was an interesting coincidence.

After a moment, Leonel nodded. Aina's words seemed to remind him of something else. As much as he wanted to control everything, there had been certain points where his people had been just fine on their own. His brothers had survived years in the Dimensional Verse without him, Aina had been through countless life and death experiences when he was nowhere to be found, even the likes of Savahn had been all on her own for a very long time.

It was easy for him to only see things he had been through and filter everything through that lens, but there were people around him that had arguably been through worse. Every time he tried to shoehorn them into needing his protection, he was actually belittling them.

"Have you thought about finding more powerful blood to ingest?"

"I'm holding back on doing that for now… I'm very close to grasping a new, evolved Force. Once I do, I'll burn away what remains of my curse and breakthrough."

"Oh? You're still holding back, huh?" Leonel chuckled.

Aina grinned. "It's okay, you're still handsome when your face is swollen. I don't mind protecting you for a few more decades."

"Decades?" Leonel scoffed. "Like I said, I can beat you right now."

"Maybe you can, but would you?" Aina blinked innocently, stretching her arms down toward her back and clasping her palms to rest on her ass. She leaned forward slightly and almost instantly, her chest seemed to double in size, her eyes glittering as she observed Leonel.

Leonel opened his mouth to respond but suddenly found that his throat had dried out.

Damned hormones, they had failed him again.

Leonel shook his head and looked away. "Come on Little Blackstar, let's go kill some Rapax. She really thinks she can bully us into submission."

Aina's smile brightened as Leonel turned and walked away. She hadn't been this happy in a very long time.

She sent a glance toward where the three youths had disappeared before entering a different entrance with Leonel.

…

Not long after they had left.

BANG!

A Rapax fell heavily from above, its silver body rippling with power and strength. Its head turned from side to side, eyeing three entrances before it made a choice and dove into one.