Dimensional Descent

Despite wearing a mask, Aina seemed to have become the center of attention once more. Though, this time, this only seemed to be in one portion due to her beauty.

While her face might have been covered, there was simply no mistaking that enormous ax and figure that seemed to attract so many gazes like a magnet. It didn't take much time at all for Aina's own fan club to come out in full swing, their loud cheers rocking the stadium.

In truth, several such fan clubs had crept up. Even Elthor had his own. Though, maybe this wasn't so surprising since he did the devilish handsome archetype wonders. His horns only made him feel more exotic and made even more women swoon.

Among the fan clubs, though, Aina's and Myghell's could be said to be the largest. Elthor was more like a niche specific to a certain population of unabashed degenerates and furries. As for Leonel, he was probably a close second to Aina and Myghell.

Leonel never really considered it before because he had spent his whole life, practically, chasing after just a single woman, but he was quite handsome in his own right. Unfortunately, his style of dress docked him a few points, and his unknown background docked him a few more.

If Leonel dressed in expertly tailored robes like Myghell and the other geniuses did, not to mention making his Morales family origins public information, he would probably speed by the latter with ease. But, he was quite comfortable where he was at.

Unless it was a cool uniform, he wouldn't compromise his own comfort to wear it. How ridiculous.

Funny enough, Aina got the opposite reception.

Though Aina and Leonel were opposites in a lot of respects, when it came to their casual form of dress, they were in complete lockstep. Aina put functionality over everything else, and Leonel placed his comfort above everything else. Something like fashion wasn't at the forefront of either of their minds.

But, because Leonel was a man, his style was seen as lazy as opposed to Aina who just received a more exotic label that made her 'stand out' from 'other girls'.

Her armor not only covered her from head to toe, something so shocking to see on a woman that it was practically its own fallacy, but every piece of it had its own purpose. Aina's fan club couldn't help but praise her modesty and she cared more about her battle prowess than how good she looked.

Of course, there was one other reason Aina's fan club was so passionate. They had all learned that she was still single and hadn't gotten married. The women were excited for her, weaving stories about how she had been forced into her circumstances even without knowing the truth. Of course, Myghell became involved in these fanciful tales, becoming the Prince Charming that saved the Princess from her shackles like a gentlemen should.

As for the men, they felt like there was still a chance for them, furiously rebutting the lovesick tales of the women.

The ultimate result were deafening cheers, clapping hands and stomping feet that threatened to bring the whole arena down.

Leonel, though, was completely unlike everyone else. The moment Aina had moved, he had become completely focused on his task, the small little crystalline spiders on his palms springing into action.

Leonel followed them as they rushed through the arena, his mind completely focused. It would take a large expenditure to have them run so far from him, especially due to their small size. But, he had no other choice in the matter.

He couldn't afford to use any other means because it might very well alert others. If there were spatial fluctuations and it was picked up by the members of the Void Palace, they might assume the worst and think Leonel to be cheating.

Though it would be quite obvious after an investigation that he wasn't, he preferred to not have to deal with such a difficulty at all.

From start to end, Leonel didn't really think about the morality of what he was doing, mostly because he didn't believe that there was anything wrong with it. The only way one could see something wrong was if  he had a relationship with Aina's father in some way, but considering that Leonel had accepted that he and Aina would never be together, he didn't see things like that at all.

As far as Leonel was concerned, Aina's father was no different from a stranger to him.

Now, an argument could be made that it was unethical to steal something from someone who hadn't done you any wrong, and that was a fair point. But, this was a hit on his own morality that Leonel was willing to take.

There were certain tough decisions that Leonel knew he would have to make if he wanted to reach his goals. When he chose to resurrect Elthor instead of his closest friend in those years, Rollan, he had already made one such sacrifice. And he knew well that there would be many others he would have to make…

The spiders scurried through the arena. Leonel knew that he was on a time crunch, Aina wasn't fighting a person she would have to try very hard against. It would likely only last a single exchange.

However, he had timed things well. He began moving the instant Aina's name blinked. With everything being within his calculations, he should make it.

The spiders cut the distance.

100 meters… 50 meters… 20 meters…

The gap closed rapidly, Leonel's expression turning a bit pale. The distance between them was at least a kilometer to begin with. But, with the size of the spiders, it felt like a hundred times that.

'We made it.'

Aina's battle was already over, another resounding victory for her. She made her way back quickly, but it was already too late.

The spiders closed down the last meter distance between them and Miel, ready to pounce onto his spatial ring and fuse with it.

However, right at that moment, something Leonel had never expected occurred.

Yuri snapped her head in the direction of the spiders, her gaze glowing with a dangerous light. Before Leonel could react, a vast pressure descended, shattering the three spiders into motes of light.

Leonel slowly opened his eyes, his expression somewhat pale and his pupils constricted.

What was that?