Dimensional Descent

The two seamlessly weaved in and out of one another, their images blurring and somehow becoming difficult to track.

Leonel was flooded with Natural Force Arts, his body that of a Spiritual, and it felt like he embodied the world itself.

Aina was akin to a specter. Her soul was locked away in her body, undergoing a perfect fusion. But now, it had become so perfect, so seamless, that even her Dream Force couldn’t be detected within the Dream Plane.

One fused into the world.

One entirely disconnected from it.

When they worked together, one burning star and one shadow, one specter and one blazing light…

The world fell to obedience.

Leonel’s blade appeared at the Demoness’ throat. To her credit, as shaken as her mind was right now, she reacted quickly. She slashed out; a spear appeared in the same fluid motion.

Whether by coincidence or not, she pulled out her end game spear. She didn’t even have the instinct to underestimate what she was seeing right this moment. Every fiber of her being was screaming danger.

However, Leonel’s spear vanished.

’Space?’

No, Leonel had literally erased himself from existence. How was that possible? Only she had reached this level of Dream Force?

The Demoness’ mind had been spread out too far for her synapses to connect fast enough. By the time she realized that Leonel was relying on Aina just as much as she was relying on him, Aina’s palm had already slammed against her chest.

PUCHI!

A spear ripped through her chest.

At some unknown point, Leonel had written himself back into reality, appearing behind her seamlessly.

However, it seemed like they had made a mistake. With the trajectory of Leonel’s spear, it would run right through Aina’s palm as well.

But what actually happened made the Demoness realize just how much trouble she was in.

Leonel’s spear became akin to an extension of his arm. This wasn’t an analogy or an image-painting sort of description. It was well and truly akin to an extension of his arm.

He pulled the Self Realm of Force Crafting to another level, injecting his very soul into his blade.

Aina, even with her eyes dull and her mind blank, reacted in the very same way.

The Demoness felt herself lose control of her Force once again. This was already the third time Leonel had succeeded in doing this.

But she could hardly feel shocked when Aina seemed to do the same thing. Taking advantage of her loss of control, Aina reversed the flow of her blood.

The Demoness coughed up a mouthful of blood, her body shearing and shredding apart.

BANG!

She exploded and then, in the far-off distance, she forcefully reeled in her blood and flesh, gasping for breath.

Aina was already upon her.

Leonel allowed his Clairvoyance to direct the changes. While he could sense the changes to the Demoness, Aina could read and react to them before they even happened.

When Aina moved, Leonel reacted to his wife instead.

This time, he trailed behind her, his mind sharp.

Aina attacked, he would plan.

The two halves of the coin played off against one another.

There was a lot of talk about just who was the strongest in Existence these days. But maybe no one expected that it would be a duo.

The Demoness recovered, pale-faced, only to find a fist at her head.

PENG!

Akin to the sound of metal clashing against metal, her neck snapped back.

Leonel’s spear weaved beneath Aina’s arm, piercing through her chest.

Aina’s leg swept up, her shin slamming against the side of the Demoness’ head.

Leonel had already retracted his spear, spinning it around his back in a seamless, fluid motion, and slashing out with all his might.

His blade came from the opposite direction in which Aina’s kick had sent the Demoness’ body snapping toward, their momentum and strength multiplying over one another to slice her in two.

Aina moved for her lower half, Leonel moving toward her upper.

Leonel completed Spear Dance in an instant, pulling on Aina’s Clairvoyance to communicate and formulate the Natural Force Art in a breath.

Aina pulled on Leonel’s calculative abilities, roses of blood appearing around her as she completed a Force Pill in the same breath.

She slammed the Force Pill forward with a palm just as her husband thrust out his spear.

Leonel roared, a complex magic circle appearing beneath his feet. His King Force flooded into it and then the Force Art rushed up his body, concentrating into his spear as he pierced forward.

A concentrated blast of controlled Spear Force ripped through the Demoness’ forehead, through her Ethereal Glabella, and out of the back of her skull.

There was an eruption of Force, a violent tempest that shook the skies.

Time became so warped and distorted that it seemed to unstick—unfreezing from the Demoness’ presence and continuing to move forward again.

But then it suddenly reversed, flowing backward in a shuddering ripping.

The Demoness burst to pieces once again, her Ethereal Glabella falling from the skies in a sprinkling rain much like Leonel’s had before.

Leonel took a step back, appearing by his wife’s side.

Both of them wore placid expressions, Aina’s dull, Leonel’s cold as ice.

They were both well aware that this wasn’t over, but they were ready for more. No matter how many times she showed up, she would be crushed just the same.

The ripping of time, its fierce reversal, rewrote reality once again.

The Demoness reformed, her expression paling further. There was a malevolent aura to her, as though she was truly infuriated, long having forgotten just what it was she was fighting for.

All she felt was that these two were in her way. And they couldn’t be here; they had to go away… if she wanted to see her husband again, they had to be erased.

”GO AWAY!”

The shriek of a banshee filled the skies, and one after another, seas of Invalids began to appear.

Leonel’s eyes narrowed as he seemed to sense something.

These Invalids… they felt like extensions of the Demoness…?

What was…

Leonel’s pupils trembled as he understood. The final piece of the puzzle slid into place.

”You… haven’t been Human or Dream Asura in a very long time…”

The first Dream Asura?

The first Human?

No.

The first Variant Invalid?

No.

She was the reason Invalids even existed in the first place. Leonel had been wrong. Invalids weren’t a creation of the Northern Star, how could they be when the Northern Star only existed to protect them from the vast nothingness?

”… You don’t even realize it, do you? They live because you do. They destroy because you want to destroy. You’ve dispersed your Dream Force so far you don’t even realize the sort of carnage you’ve brought. Or maybe, subconsciously you do and this is just exactly what you want…”

The Invalids… they were products of the Demoness’ Dream Force, people who weren’t able to escape the influence of her will for the destruction of the world, her want to see everything crumble and collapse before her eyes.

They were the truest essence of the Demoness’ helpless pain.

Leonel looked off into the distance, his eyes landing on his uncle and aunt amongst the sea of monsters.

He lowered his head, his expression darkening.

A hand clutched at his, its warmth pouring into him.

But at that moment, the chilliness in his eyes reached its peak.

”Kill.”

He and Aina spoke at once.