Dimensional Descent

Leonel breathed heavily, his body feeling quite dry and his head threatening to burst.

He wasn't very worried about Aina. He had only used his Starry Light Domain in a 10 kilometers range in order to set up a trap for Thaela, but he didn't get an opportunity to use it. Much like he could extend his Starry Spirit Domain beyond 10 kilometers when he had been searching for the young man he interrogated, he could do the same with his Starry Light Domain.

Thaela would likely think that Aina was buried somewhere in a 10 kilometer range, when in reality, she was over 50 kilometers away.

In addition, he had left their collection of demons with her, so if it came to it, she would have more than enough Blood Force at her fingertips to use in protecting herself. This way, Leonel's mind could be as relaxed and stress free as possible.

Of course, flashing so far away was also the reason that Leonel was in such a poor state aside from the fact he had just fought a long and difficult battle. But there was no way he could allow Aina to be in danger of being found by that murderous woman while she was still in a critical state of meditation.

The only reason she could enter such a state to begin with was because she had an implicit trust in Leonel. How could he do anything to let her down?

Unfortunately, such a decision left him even more drained than he was previously, and now facing a battle he felt that he had no chance of winning.

Leonel exhaled a breath, standing to his full height and stretching out his back. Pushing against the heavy gravity of this space made his muscles whine and his bones crack, but he still pushed through until he was at his full height.

'The gap is actually so large… If the gap between the Fiend Class and the Chaos Class is as exaggerated as the books in that library explained, then it likely means that I might not even be able to defeat a Chaos Class existence at Tier 1, or even Tier 9 of the Fifth Dimension, for that matter…'

This was a huge problem, an enormous one. But Leonel wasn't sure how to easily fix it.

To have the first ranked Fire Force Innate Node should have placed him quite high on the talent totem pole, and that he was. The issue was that he couldn't use his Forces as flexibly as Thaela could.

This was something that went beyond just techniques. Leonel was certain that while he was fighting Thaela, she had only used a technique a single time, and that was when he first shot a Fallen Star Force arrow. After that, she hadn't even used her Ability Index again.

From beginning to end, aside from that one exception, she relied on nothing outside of her comprehension of Force application.

Leonel closed his eyes.

He could feel it coming. Whatever demon they had prepared was probably looming over him right this moment, it was making it difficult even to breathe. But with every second he gained, his Stars continued to rotate within his Ethereal Glabella and his Force tried to recover as fast as it could.

Leonel felt goosebumps racing across his skin and chilly air licking at his collarbone and neck. The temperatures seemed to be slowly falling step by step. At first it was subtle, but it soon reached a level that couldn't be ignored. The chill threatened to form crystals upon his body, slowly building layers onto his bronzed skin.

However, Leonel's eyes remained closed, his body growing more and more relaxed, his nerves unwinding and his muscles becoming looser.

Although he understood Aina's feelings, he was always the most comfortable like this. He was willing to sacrifice, to always stand before her no matter what danger lay ahead. If it wasn't because of the circumstances, he wouldn't have left her alone at all.

Leonel took another breath and slowly exhaled, the frigid air making his teeth ache, however the calmness of his expression only grew deeper.

A dense Auspicious Air began to exude from him, his focus reaching another height.

This world was nothing more than a 100 by 100 meter plot of plain land hanging in the depths of a foggy darkness. There was nothing here but him and an enemy. There was no space to run, nowhere to escape to. Unless he could win this battle, he would be finished.

However, if he died, Aina would be left by herself to face the ire of the Endless Twilight Pavilion. If he died, she would never be able to get revenge for her own mother. If he died, no one would be able to return to the Human Domain from this Zone. Not his brothers, not Aina, not his mother.

Victory was the only option.

He hadn't separated from Aina because he had given up. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

He had a time limit against Thaela, but there was no such time limit against this creature. He would scratch and claw if he had to. Eventually, he would rip its final breath from its body with his own hands if he had to.

Leonel's eyes opened, a serene coldness within them.

Before him, no more than three inches away, a pair of reptilian eyes stared back. They were an ice cold blue color and looked as though they had been carved out of sapphires. Their pupil slits were an abyssal black that seemed to swallow everything into an icy void.

The demon had the body of a muscular human man but the head of a cobra, its neck flaring in and out with its every breath.

It stood a full head taller than Leonel, its entire body covered in gorgeous sky blue scales. Just its breath alone caused crystals to form in the air, its mighty, ancient presence weighing down the atmosphere as though its appearance alone was enough to multiply gravity several times over.

This was a true Fiend Class demon, its strength alone capable of toppling worlds.

BANG!

Leonel couldn't even see how the demon moved. In the blink of an eye, he found himself crashing against the barrier keeping him caged in this space.