Dimensional Descent

Leonel shot up, his forehead almost banging against Aina's. But, in a final moment, he managed to come to a grinding halt, suddenly finding that the control he had over his body had reached a truly exaggerated degree.

For a moment, their noses were barely a millimeter apart, their gazes locking. Even with the terrible scent hanging in the air, Leonel almost became too keenly aware of Aina's own delicate fragrance by contrast. He had no idea how she managed to not latch onto the stink the rest of this place had, but maybe he should never challenge a woman's ability to remain clean.

Leonel's expression flickered, his mind suddenly running through everything it had been through in just the last several minutes. His brows furrowed. He had more control over himself now, but he didn't quite know how he should be reacting. His instinct was just to shut it all down again.

Seeing Leonel's expression growing colder, Aina suddenly spoke.

"Your father said…!"

Aina repeated everything Val had said verbatim, not holding back. She thought about taking the edge off of the words, but in the end, she decided against it. She thought that with the relationship Leonel had with his father, maybe the rawest form of what he had said was exactly what Leonel needed to hear.

Leonel was astonished, not knowing what to say for a long time.

"… My dad was here?"

Leonel blinked as Aina nodded. He sent his mind into the Segmented Cube and he did indeed find that Lab 1 was surrounded from all sides by a barrier. Even without trying, he knew that he didn't have a single chance at even cracking it, a calculation that he was surprised his mind could even accomplish, let alone complete so quickly.

Leonel seemed to get the message loud and clear. This was how large the gap between him and the peak of the Dimensional Verse was. No, this couldn't even be considered the peak of the Verse at all. At best, it could be considered the pinnacle of the middle tiers.

In truth, Leonel didn't need to hear this at all. Just the information that his dad had been here was enough to paint the picture. To be able to so casually enter a Rapax Nest then leave as he pleased without a word… Well, it all spoke for itself.

Leonel suddenly smiled, his gaze lighting up.

Aina was completely caught off guard by this. She couldn't truly understand. The words Leonel's father had spoken might seem benign from a certain perspective, but from another… They were the kind of words Leonel would hate to hear the most.

She had come to learn of what her mistakes were in the past. She didn't give Leonel the support he needed even though he had always been there for her. This was why she had resolved that no matter what happened between now and the future, she would always be here.

Her fighting it out with Leonel didn't mean she had already given up on this. It was just her way of showing that she had no intention of giving up on him. Maybe it wasn't the perfect method, but they were ultimately still young and she had spent most of her life without a normal range of emotion… it had been the only way she could think of to force Leonel to see her perspective.

Ironically, though, it had ended up being her words that triggered all of this, but that only made it all the more baffling.

Everything about Val's words had been a culmination of everything Leonel hated. His father's words had doubted him, belittled him, and even put him in his place without care or reserve for his face. So, why was it that Leonel was grinning and laughing?

Aina hadn't been nearly as harsh when she said similar things, she had only warned Leonel that the Dimensional Verse wasn't the kind of place that could be underestimated… She didn't want him to put his life on the line just for the sake of saving people he didn't even know… She wanted him to stay by her side, safe.

It was then that it seemed to click for Aina.

The love that Leonel had for his father made what he might feel for her feel small and meaningless. There was maybe no one in his life and Leonel respected and adored more than his father. She had thought that because of how Leonel had practically worshipped the ground she walked on, that she could speak more freely than 99% of people in his life while in his presence…

In a certain respect, she wasn't wrong. But, it was always a matter of relativity. The things that Val could say to Leonel weren't the sort of things that she could get away with saying.

At that moment, Aina came to understand. Leonel had put a lot of effort into winning her heart, years, even. By this point, she would be lying if she said that she cared for anyone more than she cared for him. In fact, Leonel and her father held equal weight in her heart.

Maybe that was because her relationship with her father wasn't nearly as good as the one Leonel shared with his own, but… There was a certain level of love that blood ties could form that other forms of love otherwise couldn't… And yet, Leonel had managed to reach that level for her, while she…

She had yet to reach that level for him.

The truth was very simple. Despite his smile and charisma, Leonel was arrogant to his very bones. He had a relentless drive to win, he felt his opinion was more likely than not the right way to go, and he felt that questioning and doubting him were things most people simply didn't have the right to do…

Even Aina, herself.

However, his father was very different. If there was one man that was his better, that had the right to question him, to doubt him, that might very well have an opinion that was superior to his own…

It was Velasco Morales.

A challenge from anyone else made Leonel turn his nose up. A challenge from his father, though, stoked the flames in his heart and made his gaze light up with ruthless ambition. Much like the day Leonel began to learn to Craft, this time was not much different.

'Just a Prince? Okay, for now I'll just be a Prince until I can kick your ass, old man.'

Leonel's skin reddened, his veins pulsing with a dense reddish gold. A singular Rune floated within each one of his irises, his blood rushing throughout his body.

In that moment, he became keenly aware of just how close Aina's nose was to his own. His fiery gaze met hers, his elevated heartbeat seeming to resonate between them.

Aina's skin flushed red, looking away and pulling back slightly. Something about Leonel's eyes made her feel like a deer in headlights.

But, it was precisely because she did this that she didn't react in time to a pair of lips pressing onto her own. Somehow, it felt just like the first time.