Dimensional Descent

"Thank you for your help, Dmitry."

There didn't seem to be anything wrong with Leonel's words and his tone even seemed to be somewhat warm, the coldness in his gaze didn't recede even the smallest bit. Dmitry could only nod in silence, watching as Leonel scooped up the missions and walked out, Aina following to his side.

…

Outside the Senate Branch, a group was accumulating. Though, most were simply spectators who had gotten lucky enough to get swept up in the festivities. Now that they were here, why would they leave?

The moment Treanna's people started gathering, those around understood exactly what was going on. It must have been that Leonel and Aina had finally been found.

In the Void Palace, being in the know was a matter of life and death. If you casually strolled into a high level Faction War, no one would lament your crippling or your death. Keeping your head on a swivel was a must. And, of course, the person who had reported their appearance also helped spread this news for those that weren't in the know.

Said individual, who went by the name Narat, was feeling quite happy with himself. He was quite a high level Galaxy Ranked disciple, having already reached the middle tiers and become a Level 4 Galaxy Ranked disciple. He didn't fear newbies who had only been here a year to begin with, even if they were Amethyst Token disciples. There was a certain order to things.

When Narat saw that Leonel and Aina had entered the Senate Branch just as he was leaving, he couldn't believe his luck, so he made the report, collected his rewards, and came back to view the show.

This time, Treanna had once again sent some big guns. Emonie and Eliot, the two that had cornered Aina previously, had returned, Eliot still carrying his very same smug smile. The third of them had remained silent during the entirety of the first clash between them, and her name was Jova.

Jova remained silent as usual, allowing Emonie to take the lead while Eliot's big mouth seemed to be perfectly designed to help things spread even further and faster than they had already been.

"Hey, what do you think? It can't be that they'll hole themselves up in there for another year, right?" Eliot laughed.

Everyone knew that the Senate Branch was a no fighting zone. Even they, who had come with a whole entourage prepared to take Leonel and Aina down, didn't dare to cross this line.

"There are rules against that." Emonie replied coldly. "The Senate Branch isn't a safe haven, it's a place for inquiries. The Senate Branch member has a right to kick them out if they feel that these lines are being crossed."

Eliot chuckled. "How convenient to have a bookworm like you to inform me of such things. Now it seems I can finally fulfill my wish, it's almost a shame that I have to share the view of such a body with everyone else, it's been on my mind for an entire year."

Eliot howled as though he really was a dog, his antics receiving him glares from half his audience and laughs from the other half. As for the gender split, it was all too obvious.

There were many rules in the Void Palace, something like sexual assault was as prohibited as killing was. This was why Eliot was quite careful to draw a line with his words as he had heard that Leonel was quite adept at cornering people with his words.

But his implied meaning was no less obvious. If it wasn't for the Void Palace's umbrella, his obscene nature made it quite obvious what he would choose to do.

As for angering Leonel and Aina? Who cared?

In fact, that was precisely what he wanted. He couldn't have them running away again. This time, he would make sure to follow through on his promise.

Before, Aina could have gotten out of this ordeal just by signing the contract. But now, her little boyfriend had crippled so many of their Faction's people. As a result, both of them would be thoroughly humiliated.

At that moment, the doors to the Senate Branch opened, a rush of cold wind suddenly rushing into the surroundings. In one instant, the atmosphere had been quite lively, and in the next, it became like a cold winter night.

Leonel's steps were quite light and one could almost not notice Aina lagging a half step behind at all.

A circle of wind rushed around him, kicking up a low strip of dust in a perfect pattern. It wasn't too fast, not too slow. It only felt controlled and unhurried.

His steps couldn't have been lighter or more silent, but it somehow still felt like pounding stones, rolling and skipping down a mountain pass and forcing the earth to tremble.

Leonel swept a casual glance through the spectator, his eyes feeling like blades of eyes searing into their skin only to land on a particular individual.

Leonel recognized this man quite well, his memory was too good. This was the very same young man that had brushed past them as he and Aina entered the Senate Branch. Back then, Leonel had already picked up on the skip of his heart and the rush of breath of Narat had undergone.

However, Leonel wasn't one to skip to assumptions without all the evidence. There were any number of reasons he could have been surprised, and even if it was purely for recognizing him and Aina, this didn't mean that he would definitely report them to Treanna.

Clearly, though, he had made the wrong choice.

It seemed that he hadn't been ruthless enough. Hadn't his actions made it clear that there was only one outcome for those who stood on Treanna's side? Maybe an arm wasn't enough.

Leonel vanished. Before anyone registered where he had appeared, he was already standing before Narat, his hand clamped over the latter's jaw and squeezing his mouth open.

However, by the time people saw this, a tongue was already rotating in the skies, having been cut out of Narat's mouth.

Since his tongue was only used to talk, he definitely didn't need it anymore. 

[More chapters on the way]