Dimensional Descent

Many couldn't believe what they were seeing.

A Variant Invalid was considered to be the pinnacle of their Dimension, especially when one was at the Quasi Sixth Dimension like this one. Scarlet Star Force should have only been enough to place them on even ground, not enough for Leonel to overwhelm one to this extent.

However, he made it look like it was easy, as though there wasn't anything special at all about what he was doing.

Leonel's mind was simply too focused, too cool, too calculated. Nothing escaped his vision, even the slightest twitch was accounted by him and countered in the most efficient way possible.

At the same time, Leonel's Spear Domain Lineage Factor seemed to fuse with his Dream Control Ability Index. Now that his mind had entered the Sixth Dimension, the fuel given to his spear was on a completely different level. Every instinct, every possibility, every potential counter was refined to the absolute extreme.

Leonel knew quite well that he was running out of Fifth Dimensional Scarlet Star Force. Once it was gone, it was gone. He didn't know how the creator of <Dimensional Cleanse> had done it, but it didn't matter right now. All he knew was that this Variant Invalid would fall beneath his blade.

The Steel Beast Master slammed a palm to the ground, shooting up. Its expression was like that of a roaring lion, furious and warped, the lines of his flexing features making him look more alien than anything human.

It looked at its stump, the wound having already been cauterized by the residual heat of Leonel's swing. The constant burning made it impossible for its healing factor to kick in, leaving it effectively armless until it could break free from this situation.

But, was that ever something that Leonel would allow?

Even if he wasn't absolutely furious about the last moments of the Gold Runed Rapax, where did this bastard get off thinking that he could do as he pleased with his woman? Shouting and bloviating about their future children and who and who wasn't now 'his Queen', not bothering to even look down to notice that there was a furious man right beneath him.

Leonel's spear swung out again, taking with it another arm.

The Variant Invalid's expression was filled with shock. It had most definitely dodged, how had it still ended up losing yet another arm? And if Leonel could so precisely see through its movements, why hadn't it just taken its head yet?

It was then that it suddenly sunk in for the Steel Beast Master.

A low chuckle left its mouth, shining through is sharp teeth. It had spent its whole life as the predator, from the time it was an Invalid, swallowing its own kin, to the point it evolved beyond that and became a Variant Invalid, before eventually being recruited by the Three Finger Cult.

In truth, it was only chosen for this mission because it was the only one that could pass through the Rapax's barrier. Once it brought Aina back, it wouldn't even be in line to use her, let alone claiming her as Queen. This was meant to be its chance.

Another swipe of a spear took out the Variant Invalids legs and forced it to its knees.

Leonel stepped forward, but he suddenly found that a fuming beauty had appeared to his side.

"Let it heal." Aina said slowly.

Leonel cast a gaze to the side for a moment and retracted his spear and even his armor. He took a step to the side and found a stone to sit on, removing a beast cloth from the Segmented Cube to cover a small bit of his decency.

A dull bang sounded as Aina lowered her ax hilt to the ground, her hair fluttering wildly. Despite being forced to its knees, the Steel Beast Master was still more than a head taller than Aina. And yet, her aura seemed to stifle it entirely.

For a moment, the Steel Beast Master was stunned that this was happening, but a low rumbling chuckle eventually left it.

In that moment, its arms stumps imploded as a jet of blood flying outward. But, with it, it took much of Leonel's Scarlet Star Force.

Before the eyes of everyone, its arms regrew and its legs healed. When it rose up, its furious mane was back and the furious glint in its eyes was undeniable.

Aina swung her ax the moment it stood to its full height. However, the Steel Beast Master didn't even move, its torso flexing and its gaze looking down toward Aina without a hint of lost confidence.

CLANG! BOOM!

The ground beneath their feet shattered like cobwebs, but the Variant Invalid didn't move a single inch, its flexed torso meeting Aina's battle ax as though its blade was a blunt butter knife.

"The worst mistake you could have made was not killing me when you had the chance. I'll be sure to savor each and every one of your deaths, except for you, of course. You'll be the witness to it all."

Aina didn't say a single word, at least not immediately. Her hair fluttered, her feet pressed into the splintered ground, her arms flexed and her thighs bulged.

"Die."

The Steel Beast Master's expression changed. A sudden overwhelming pressure pressed forward, knocing it off its feet. In the next instant, it found itself speed away once again, its body leaving harsh licks of flame in its wake as the atmosphere whined and groaned.

BANG!

The ground beneath Aina's feet sunk by another measure as the Steel Beast Master skid along the ground. It quickly flipped to its feet, his expression filled with shock as it looked down.

There was a shallow wound across its torso, barely deeper than a paper cut and only about a foot in length. Compared to the rest of its body, it was impossibly small. However, it was just enough to drip with blood…

At that moment, a strong suction force pulled at it. Though it quickly cut off the feeling, by the time it looked up, a globule of blood as large as its head had already appeared above Aina's palm.

The blood thrummed with vitality, shimmering with blinding lights.

Aina's palm drew an arc across the air, causing the globule of blood to spread into the form of a blade… An ax blade.

Her battle ax stretched outward, allowing the blood to coat it.

The effects of this blood would be far more powerful if she ingested it, however she didn't want anything to do with this Variant Invalid. She didn't want its apology, she didn't want its remorse, and she most definitely didn't want its strength.

She only wanted its death.

Aina swung her battle ax as the Steel Beast Master's expression widened. It suddenly realized that it was frozen in place and there was absolutely nothing it could do to survive.

It had been humiliated not just once, but twice in this day alone. This was how it would die.

The Variant Invalids corpse fell into two pieces, bursting into motes of light that flew toward both Leonel and Aina's bodies. However, Aina rejected it entirely, giving it all to the former.

"I would advise that you not take another step toward that egg." Leonel said lightly, not even looking in Amery's direction.