Dimensional Descent

Leonel’s pupils constricted into pinholes.

”AINA!” He roared.

Up until this point, aside from his father, El’Rion was simply the strongest person he had ever come across. Although he had been injured by the entity and only had a fraction of his peak strength remaining, he had attacked that very same man with the full brunt of his modified starship and hadn’t even managed to cut his wrist off completely, what should have supposedly been one of the weakest parts of his body.

But now, that very same El’Rion, while holding his family’s strongest treasure at that, was blown away as though a leaf in the wind. The strength of this monstrous creature wasn’t something that he could fathom. And the most horrible part was that even after he had attacked, the Regulator showed no intention of taking action.

Aina had already acted. In fact, she was happy that she had sent Leonel flying into the Starship as well because even though she was shaking in fear currently, she couldn’t imagine what would happen to Leonel if he was struck like that.

Leonel stood in a fury, but Aina was already attacking.

”DAMNED WOMAN, HOW DA-”

Leonel caught him, surprised by what he had been about to say, but that didn’t calm his rage at all. He was far too furious to think about it with much depth; his thoughts were entirely occupied with how to get out of this situation.

But that only lasted a second before the rage spilled over once again. Why didn’t she listen to him?! There was clearly a huge gap between them, a gap that couldn’t be closed with her style of battle, the smart thing would be to rely on his style of battle instead. No matter how much she hated it, it was clear and obvious that his more devious, long-game, calculation-intensive approach to battle was the far better approach here.

And yet, she had just stormed in as though he needed to be protected to her back.

It was cute, funny even when they were in normal settings and he allowed her to take the lead. It was lighthearted, and he didn’t mind because he was confident in himself not to care. He loved her, and that was enough for him to allow her to do as she pleased in 99% of situations. But in this 1%, in these dangerous situations, in times where their lives were on the line, she had to listen to him! She had to let him stand in front of her, no matter what she perceived her strength to be!

Leonel dashed forward at his greatest possible speed. The appearance of the Shadow Tail and the destruction of the barrier of time and space had been far too volatile and violent, causing his Spatial Force to be useless. He ran forward even though he knew it was foolish, even though he knew it would change nothing. His best weapon was the ship he had just been in. Even his modified ships were at least 20% weaker than a true Tier 1 Starship, and yet he ignored it all.

But he was far too slow. Without the use of external Force, he was just a Tier 1 of the Seventh Dimension. He wasn’t a member of the God Races, he wasn’t even one of the many Races just a step below, he was a human, he was weak.

Aina punched out with the full strength that she could muster. All of her previous ”injuries” seemed to have vanished, but they had only been that, facades she used to let the members of Shield Cross Stars think that they had been able to catch her. In reality, she had already long since surpassed the former Silver Emperor, and not just by a small margin at that.

It gave her confidence. Confidence that vanished in the face of this beast. But she had to stand before it.

She gave her everything, throwing out a strike that was the greatest of her life.

It was far too similar. A strike that gave everything to protect the person they cared so much for to their back.

Leonel’s gaze turned a furious shade of red, trying to tap into a power hidden deep within him.

But then he saw a smile. It was just a pair of cherry lips, graceful and beautiful, enticing and soft, so gorgeous it could make a man forget everything in his life to worship at the feet of its owner.

He only saw it for a brief moment, and then the power that he couldn’t even control, power he wasn’t confident in pulling out of himself in the first place, vanished like a puff of wind. It was as though that smile was teasing him, holding a piece of meat right in front of his face. It was insulting, patronizing, the lowest form of instigation.

And it worked.

Aina’s fist landed, and an overwhelming force swallowed her up. Leonel couldn’t spot anything but a mist of blood. Bits and pieces of something shattered, sent flying so far into the distance, and at such a fast speed, he didn’t even have the time to catch her.

Dead? Dead again? Another one? So quickly? He had just... just...

Leonel roared, his fury rising like an overwhelming tide.

”I’LL KILL YOU! I SWEAR I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL SHRED APART EVERYTHING YOU CARE FOR! I’LL GRIND YOUR PRIDE INTO THE DIRT AND MAKE YOU FACE THAT SICK SMILE!”

It didn’t matter how loud he roared, how violently his blood boiled, that same overwhelming power didn’t come. That smile didn’t even appear again. It was as though it couldn’t be bothered to stick around to listen to the tantrum of a child; she had already seen the amusing expression she had wanted to see. She was bored now and wanted to entertain herself with something else.

However, none of this stopped Leonel’s furious bellow. What did was the Shadow Tail suddenly turning on him, curving through the air as though it didn’t have a form and smashing toward him.