Dimensional Descent

Miel watched in silence as beads of sweat began to fall down Yuri’s brow. This matter shouldn’t have taken so long but after the curse was mostly lifted, Aina’s mental strength had take an impossibly massive leap forward to the point her previous and current power in this aspect could be compared to night and day.

Due to this increase in strength, what Miel had prepared became impossible to use.

Of course, Miel was surprised by the fact his daughter had found a method of dealing with this curse on her own when even he had no way to do so. But, it seemed that even Yuri had no idea how this came about and whenever he asked Aina about it he would receive silence in return.

The relationship between them as father and daughter couldn’t be described so simply. They ate in silence with the exception of their clashing elbows. They hardly spoke to one another. And, they would often meet the other with silence even if a question was asked.

Clearly, whatever had helped Aina heal was something she didn’t want to talk about. And, at the same time, Miel wasn’t a person who would insist on prying into the business of his daughter. She could do as she pleased so long as she also met his standards. As for what those standards were, they could all be described in terms of strength and power. As for anything else, he simply didn’t care about them.

”It’s ready.” Yuri suddenly spoke.

Miel nodded, his palm flipping over to reveal something that made the mansion quake for just a moment before settling back down.

Yuri’s gaze locked onto it almost immediately, but just as quickly, she looked away. She felt as though needles were poking into her mind. Each one was several inches long, pressing through her cortex and reaching down toward her brainstem as though to obliterate all that was her.

”Don’t try to use your abilities on this. It’s beyond our understanding.”

Yuri blinked, trying to regain her bearings.

Though Yuri had only displayed her telekinesis in the past, this was just the very tip of her ability. Rather, it could be said that telekinesis was just a branching power gained through her powerful mind.

The core of the truth, though… Was that Yuri was not human.

When Yuri’s vision cleared, she locked onto the object again, her heart trembling with reverence. The object looked simple, but she knew that anything that could throw her mind into disarray was far from that.

It was a tablet. It resonated with a bronze color and had words scrawled onto its front that Yuri couldn’t quite understand, yet somehow felt the power of.

Even in the darkness, it radiated a slight light of its own, shining as though it had its own light source outside of the moon and the stars. Just its presence alone seemed to have been rooted in some ancient past and yet, at the same time, it felt to have a future that extended into infinity.

It left one not knowing whether this was the relic of a past or something that had tumbled through the bounds of time and space to return to this age. For Yuri, someone who was from a race that was especially sensitive to the subtleties of objects—and was ironically quite terrible at doing the same with real people—this feeling left her baffled.

”This tablet… adoptive father, this…”

”This is the tablet I used to send you to Earth all those years ago.”

”It can help?”

Yuri was baffled. How could this tablet have such an ability yet also be able to help Aina with her problem? She couldn’t quite understand it.

”There’s very little I know about this tablet. But, after having it by my side for decades, what I can say with absolute certainty is that it only really has one true ability…”

Yuri listened intently, hanging on Miel’s every word. It was very rare for her adoptive father to speak so many words at once. This showed two things. He was definitely both nervous as to whether or not this would really help Aina or not, and, at the same time, he had a healthy respect for this object in his hands.

”… And that ability is that it Breaks Rules. It’s that simple.”

Yuri was stunned. These words sounded exceptionally simple but they made her tremble from head to toe. The headache she received almost made her collapse. In fact, she would have had her adoptive father not caught her.

Miel’s sturdy hand pressed onto Yuri’s shoulder, stabilizing her.

Miel had a lot of faith in this tablet, but he was also apprehensive. If this tablet was so good at breaking rules, why is it that Aina had still had her curse after so long? Clearly, this tablet had its limitations. And, even further, since they had to wait until Aina was so vulnerable, those limitations only became more obvious.

As much reverence as he had for this tablet and it playing such a large role in how he had come so far so quickly, he knew that relying on it completely and solely would only lead to a dead end.

But now… He should be able to help his daughter.

”Over the next few months to maybe years, you will need to stay by Aina’s side no matter what, okay Yuri? As her father, it is inconvenient for me to do the same.

”For all intents and purposes, Aina will become like a blank slate that needs to rebuild itself. If you want her to be the same Aina you know and love today, you need to let her grow and make mistakes on her own.”

”This tablet will erase her memories?” Yuri was shocked, instantly hesitating.

”No. But, it will erase her personality. This is the only way to reverse what they did to my little girl all those years ago. As things are right now, her Lineage Factor is flawed and will always cause her to go Berserk. At the same time, this flaw is stifling her other abilities from shining through as they should while simultaneously slowing her progress.

”This tablet will give her a reset and remove the flaw before allowing her to bloom forth once again. When her personality reawakens, she will be a force that can rule this Dimensional Verse with a fist.”

If Leonel had been there, he would have been stunned into silence. Removal of personality? Didn’t this sound eerily similar to what his own silver tablet could do with shadows…?