Dimensional Descent

Leonel didn't dwell on it for too long, though. He would pay it back eventually. Plus, he was lucky that Aina wasn't added to the price, or else it would have been even worse.

"Oh…"

Leonel tried to call out to his uncle again, but the old man had already vanished. He wanted to ask if his status as a disciple was still in limbo, it couldn't be that they would still need more time than this, right?

If his status was no longer in limbo, he would probably have to adjust his plans. But, it was about time he dealt with the Viror family. Unfortunately, he would probably need to get his report on them updated since he had already been gone for an entire year.

Leonel turned his head toward Aina, his eyes glowing as he looked her up and down.

"What're you looking at?"

Leonel tiled his head to the side. "You didn't break into the Sixth Dimension?"

Aina shook her head. "How was I supposed to do that? We still haven't learned anything about the God Path, and someone here decided to stare into blank space for an entire year."

Leonel scratched the back of his head awkwardly, it seemed that he really had gone overboard this time. His sense of time was only getting more and more skewed. Back when he was in the Third Dimension, the most he could focus for was a few hours, just like most humans. The idea that he could do the same thing for almost a year straight without breaks was crazy to him that had been born and raised on Earth.

"Do you want to breakthrough before this?"

Aina waved her ax lightly, causing a wall of wind to nearly blow Leonel back.

"Not sure how necessary that is," Aina said with a smile.

Leonel's expression flickered, both he and Aina pressing two fingers together at the same time.

A line of white and a line of gold cut through the air, colliding in the air exactly halfway between the two of them.

BANG!

For a moment, they froze, until they both began to crack. With a burst, they shattered apart.

Leonel grinned. "I win."

Aina pouted slightly. "Clearly cheating."

"What can I say, I'm a wealthy young master. You're lucky to marry me."

"Marry you? I don't remember agreeing to such a thing."

Leonel flashed and appeared before Aina, his grin still as bright.

"You didn't? You really know how to hurt a man's heart."

"What would you know about that?"

"A lot. Didn't you see Rychard's face? That poor sap was half broken. I didn't even do anything to him, and even had the grace to allow him the chance to marry you, but he still came back glaring at me like I had done something to him. What's that if not a heartbroken man?"

"You're really cheeky, actually bringing something like that up." Aina's eyes flashed with a dangerous light, her smile being tinged with a hint of murderous intent.

Her hand reached forward, clawing down into Leonel's ropes and wrapping around his cloth belt.

A cold sweat fell down Leonel's back. The combination of powerful woman, murderous gaze, and a hand so close to his most vulnerable point was not a good one by any stretch. He really might have been a bit too cheeky with his words just now.

In truth, his Spear Force had a small edge over Aina's on blade Force likely because of the Spear Domain ring. There was an odd shift that had happened when a blade Force went from white to gold, it was only now, though, that Leonel understood just how tangible that difference was, and it only seemed accessible through the use of this Heirloom.

Leonel cleared his throat, laughing uneasily. "You know what they say, the best way to ease over trauma is to joke about it."

"Oh? Why don't you joke about my trauma a little bit more, I think I'm almost over it. Real close."

Leonel coughed. "Is it a bit hot in here? Wow, I think we should get out of here."

"No, no. This heat is quite good. Weren't you the fire boy?"

Leonel made a mental note to no longer offend this demoness. Her knuckles pressed against his lower belly with a bit too much force. This woman wasn't to be trifled with.

Seeing Leonel still coughing and not daring to meet her gaze, Aina smiled and released her grip, painting the faint nail marks left on Leonel's chest.

"You're lucky you're handsome, I'm more forgiving of a pretty face."

Aina fixed Leonel's clothes and cupped his cheeks, squeezing them. Then, she went to the tip of her toes and gave him a peck before pulling him away.

"Let's go, husband candidate. We have a lot to do."

Leonel only seemed to blink awake now. "Candidate?!"

Aina's steps paused, turning around with an innocent blink in her eyes.

"Is there a problem?"

Leonel stood straight and saluted like a good soldier.

"None at all, ma'am!"

"Good, good. Off we go!"

…

Montez laughed so hard he felt like he might cough up a lung. He had come back because he had sensed a weird aura in the Spear Domain ring and he felt that he finally recognized it at the end, only to see such a scene.

That girl would really become the scariest of the quartet. That quartet obviously being his mother, his wife, his sister-in-law and now Aina.

He immediately forgot his purpose, laughing so hard he didn't pay a lick of attention to his surroundings. And, it was precisely then that a strong pinch caught his ear.

"Huh?"

Montez's gaze focused only to find a familiar oil covered woman standing before him.

He tried to run, but it was already too late.

"I've waited long enough, Montez. Don't make me divorce you!"

"Wait, wait! I still have to tell Leonel something!"

"If you weren't so enamored with your dramatic exits, you could have done that long ago. Now, it's my time."

"But it's important!"

"All the more reason you should have remembered before."

Like this, Montez was dragged away.