Dimensional Descent

[Bonus chapter for 800 powerstones. Karma will get you all eventually...]

Leonel's grip eventually loosened and he sat silently for a while. Soon, his breathing became steady once more.

To the side, Aina wasn't sure how to console Leonel. Of course, she wasn't aware that Leonel wasn't feeling this way due to the likely death of his father.

Regardless, she had similar experiences of her own. Her own mother was dead and her father had likely followed in her footsteps. But, she had always had problems putting her emotions into words. She was always more likely to either implode or shut down. There didn't seem to be a third option for her.

This time around, she chose to shut down.

Luckily for her, Leonel wasn't actually mourning the death of his father and quickly regained his composure, opening the driver's door and stepping out. It wasn't long before Aina followed behind him.

"... How did you know to come here directly? I thought it would take us a few days to find it at least." Aina tried a probing question.

Her words weren't wrong. Paradise Islands follow orbits, so where they fell would be variable. She only picked a mission to clear Perimeter 7 because it was near the general area, but she didn't expect to find the wreckage so quickly.

Leonel took a deep breath.

"I remember the time they fell and I know the orbit like the back of my hand, so calculating where it was wasn't a problem." He explained simply.

The orbits of Paradise Islands weren't public knowledge. Or rather, the majority of their routes weren't. Only their stop points were known, as for the path they followed between them, it could only be left up to conjecture.

For Leonel, who had been illegally traveling to the surface world for so many years already, it was simple to have this taboo knowledge.

Leonel took a step and slid down the side of the crater.

He knew that whatever his father left behind, it wouldn't have a problem surviving the fall. He didn't believe that his old man was dumb enough to not have a method of protecting his things.

A part of Leonel held a small piece of resentment for his father. After all, since he knew this was coming, couldn't he have saved these people?

people and then left, the Empire would definitely have all eyes trained onto Leonel. By

found the wreckage he knew must have

large slabs of brick and stone folded atop of one another. In comparison to the other structures,

they could duck into the remains of

two covered their mouths but were unable to hold back

"... Le..."

saying some comforting words, but she backed out

seeing something he didn't want to see. Even if by some miracle

Leonel pretended not to hear the

through the wreckage. It wasn't long before Aina picked up on the fact that something was wrong. Leonel didn't look like a person looking for the remains of his father... Instead, he

possibility, she quickly

descended. Shockingly enough, though, there wasn't even the slightest crack. Let alone

a seemingly simple wooden

not too useless, old man.' Leonel thought

certain that Leonel was hiding something. However, she also didn't dare to speak because she knew why Leonel was going out of his way to not

because he believed his father would account for

the steps and reached for the

a key? No, there's no keyhole here, there's probably another way

was a weird feeling because he could have

pulled his hand back and observed the knob. It really did

eyes and touched the knob once more.

jolted as he suddenly thought

his mind and discarded his useless thoughts. His senses became many times more

more refined. What once was an erratic, seemingly aimless pattern, gained itself a unique organization that projected itself into

as his other senses for some reason. He could tell the difference between a loaded

sense of touch was definitely the highest amongst his original five senses. Or, rather, this was the only conclusion

thought. '... A complicated lock,