Dimensional Descent

Leonel projected the Force Art to Aina, and she stared at it for a long while.

He didn’t rush her, but as she was lost in thought, so was he. He felt that being a Wise Star Order wasn’t just about gathering knowledge, but it was also about guidance, being a shepherd of sorts as well.

It didn’t restrict him from sharing the techniques that he traded for, and it didn’t stop him from showing Aina her Force Arts either. One would think that there would be some restrictions on this matter, but there were none at all.

Aina took a breath.

Leonel’s gaze narrowed. It was a seemingly normal action, but he felt the Force in the air shift. And when she took yet another breath, it shifted even more forcefully.

Every time Aina took in a simple breath, everything in her immediate vicinity changed. Her very presence was pushing and pulling at reality, as though trying to force itself into being.

It was a sight that could be felt, but not seen. It came with a heaviness that imposed its will and pressed down on even Leonel’s shoulders.

Leonel’s and Aina’s heads suddenly snapped into a direction as well. Before Leonel could be surprised that Aina had been able to keep up with his senses, they both moved at once, but Leonel fell behind quickly.

Aina was simply too fast.

Leonel’s lip twitched. ‘Does she remember that she’s naked?’

By the time Leonel made it out, he found that whatever had been happening had already been put to a stop.

In the clearing, within the depths of the endless forests that were Anastasia’s world, a battle had broken out between the bear beasts. Well, between the bears beasts and Leonel’s brothers.

Aina froze them all in their tracks. Luckily, not because she was naked, or even because they were surprised that she was alive. Rather, her aura alone made it difficult for them to move.

“What’s going on?” Aina asked, turning to Leonel.

“A Spirituals Prince with an Ability Index similar to Simeon’s turned them into beasts. It didn’t seem like they’d trust me to kill them and then resurrect them in their own bodies, so I gave them a technique to practice instead.”

“What happened?” Leonel turned to Joel, James and the others.

“They-” Joel covered James’ mouth before he made the situation worse.

“Good to see that Aina is back,” Joel said with a smile.

“I got lucky. It won’t happen again.” Leonel said seriously.

Looking into Leonel’s eyes, Joel seemed to understand that he wasn’t just speaking about Aina and his pupils trembled somewhat before he regained control over himself.

“… As a beast it was hard to maintain our inhibitions as high as they were as humans. What kept us in line were the chains and Rhangyl’s commands. But now, neither are here.”

Leonel frowned. “They can’t focus enough to learn the technique?”

“Yes. The only reason they’re calm now is because an “alpha” has appeared. I have a feeling that they’ll only get more rowdy as time goes on, it’ll make it harder for them to focus.

“It’s part of the reason I couldn’t stand being in the body, it made me feel like I couldn’t even control myself.”

Leonel took a breath. This was… very troublesome. He really didn’t want to have to-

“I can undo it,” Aina suddenly said. “It shouldn’t be too hard, you might have the materials on hand, too.”

Leonel’s eyes lit up. “How could I forget my lovely wife was so talented?”

Aina rolled her eyes. She was still waiting on her ring, but this guy insisted on taking cheap advantage of her?

“Is it just me or did Leo become more of a simp?” James held up his fingers and thumbs, framing Leonel’s head in a picture frame.

“Nope, I think you’re definitely onto something. He’s softer, too. You think he has a baby in the oven?” Raj asked.

James shifted his picture frame to Aina’s face, and then down to her belly. But before he could lock in, Raj nudged it back to Leonel’s stomach.

“Perfect.” Raj nodded.

“Hey, cap. How’s your hormone balance doing? You feeling any unexplained sickness in the mornings? Maybe some unexpected cravings? Ever wanted to sniff some gasoline? Maybe put some ketchup on your ice cream?” James asked.

Aina sputtered with laughter as Leonel threw out a kick that James blocked all too easily with an energy shield.

“Hey, hey, I’m just worried about your safety! Don’t push yourself too hard.”

Laughter rang through the forest.

***

It didn’t take Aina long to finish. In fact, as Leonel watched, he realized that she used concepts from the [Caged Body: Chained Soul] Force Art in her concoction. It seemed that part of the reason she was so confident was because she had seen it.

This was good news. At the very least, Leonel hadn’t wasted his contribution points. Though, the technique was quite useful for him as well.

When the bear beasts were forced to absorb the pill, their bodies seemed to be sucked into their Ethereal Glabellas before their bodies began to manifest out of accumulated Force.

Leonel exhaled a breath of relief seeing this. This was a better outcome than he had expected for everything. So, he turned his attention to more serious things.

“Tell me what happened.”

Everyone looked at each other. Without their beast bodies fueling the rage in their minds, the animosity many had toward Leonel lessened somewhat, but it wasn’t to the extent that all was forgiven.

Even so, seeing how ignorant he was of the matter, just how mad could they be? At most, they could lambast him for abandoning the family he claimed to want to lead at the drop of a hat.

However, from Leonel’s perspective, he had already defeated everyone that needed to be defeated. Weren’t they too useless if they couldn’t last even a year and some change without him?

Back in their human bodies, their emotions were far more complex.

They felt rage that their Patriarch had let them down.

But they also felt the very same Morales pride within them, asking why it was they had to rely on someone else to be strong.

Were the Morales truly weak now without a single person?