Dimensional Descent

Aina had realized something very important. The weight of Velasco's words, to Leonel, weighed more than anything else. If Aina had known what Velasco had said to Leonel months ago, she would have realized even more so how true those words were.

'Listen kid, I always told you women were complicated. You spent four years chasing after that little girl, she probably thinks you'll always be there for her whenever it is she wants to come back…'

They were a sprawl of words randomly thrown into what was assuredly another prank, but Leonel seemed to have latched onto them. It made it far easier for him to draw a line in the sand and maybe was part of the reason he had been so callous to Aina's words that day.

It could be said that if there was anything Aina was certain of now, it was that Leonel wouldn't always be waiting for her. He hadn't come to stop her wedding, he hadn't been the catalyst who saved her, he hadn't even checked up on her afterward, and it all culminated in maybe the greatest heartbreak she had ever experienced in her lifetime.

However, Aina was very determined about one thing. She didn't know how long it would take, she didn't know what she would have to do, but she would definitely one day be able to say words to Leonel that weighed just as heavily as his father's did.

To her, this wasn't a matter of competition, but rather a reminder that she still had efforts to be made.

The reality was that she didn't like Leonel bluntly breaking down their relationship into gains and losses, benefits and pitfalls. She hated it so much that while Leonel had been following her request to explain it in clear words, she had to fight back the will to punch him in the face… again.

This was the reason why she had stopped him despite him doing exactly what she had asked for.

However, she understood that this was truly how Leonel saw things even if she couldn't quite understand. Maybe his method of courting her in the past, his perpetual smile, his following her every step and action, had never really been him… That Leonel was always the version of himself he had thought she would want.

It was the very same naïve stage every young man went through, chasing after the woman of their dreams. They made the very false assumption that the best course of action to take was to simply comply with all of her wishes, she would definitely like you then… Unfortunately, this couldn't have been further from the truth.

Of course, Leonel hadn't taken such action to an exaggerated degree. But, he had most definitely let Aina mold many of his thoughts and tendencies, even to the point it only took him a few days by her side to ignore how much he hated the way she viewed killing.

As Leonel grew, though, his own thoughts and opinions solidified and the way he viewed the world had subtly changed. He was still the same Leonel, but he was far more assertive. It was hard to say that he had truly matured, but he was definitely more of an adult.

Aina thus understood that much of Leonel's infatuation had only been surface level and she could only be said to have a place in his heart… but she didn't own it.

Everyone had a small bit of selfishness in their heart. Aina simply wanted Leonel to love her as much as she loved him… Nothing more, nothing less.

"Yip! Yip!"

Little Blackstar happily chirped, but also seemed to remind the two that they were still deep within enemy territory.

Aina had already found herself straddling Leonel when Blackstar's call made her blush. The little mink was right, they were technically in a very dangerous situation right now. She had been a small measure away from asking Leonel if he had a condom again. But, with her better judgment, she decided that she definitely didn't want to have her first time in this place.

"Hm?"

Leonel's head turned in a certain direction. It took several moments, so long, in fact, that Aina thought that he was mistaken. But, after about half a minute, her gaze, too, sharpened.

"It's fine." Leonel said. "They're humans."

As soon as Leonel said these words, a group of three rushed out of the dense black fog.

They all looked to be in terrible shape, not a single one being without a devastating injury of some sort. In fact, it could be said that they would have already died if not for a certain event causing the Rapax they had been fighting to rush off.

There didn't seem to be a decisive leader amongst the three while one was a woman and the other two were men. Leonel couldn't recognize them, so it was likely that their foggy lake hadn't been the only one. But, he had to think, just how big was the Rapax Nest for them to send them all in here? With all the Sectors there were, and there being at least three Golden Tokens to each, there had to be many that qualified for this trial…

When they three spotted Leonel and Aina, though, their lips couldn't help but twitch.

Leonel's back was reclined against a wall as he sat on the ground. Aina, though, had straddled his waist, placing both palms on his chest. Even though they both had serious expressions on now, there was no doubt about what they must have been doing before, especially since Aina's short beast skin skirt threatened to roll up her thigh and past her bottom.

The two young men couldn't help but gulp, causing Leonel to raise an eyebrow.

Seeing this, Aina almost couldn't help but giggle. Like the flip of a switch, Leonel had gone from not caring to if she got married to someone else to suddenly being prickled by looks that ultimately couldn't see anything anyway.

She was suddenly fascinated by how Leonel's mind worked.