Dimensional Descent

Aina's body continued to walk forward completely out of her control. Before she could even grasp what was happening, she was sitting to the right of the man, her body trembling uncontrollably. No matter how hard she fought back, she couldn't seem to break free.

Aina clenched her jaw, her head raising to look the man in the eye.

The situation was far outside of her expectations. She sat no more than a meter and a half from a man she was certain could take her life with a thought. But, what was even more astonishing was the fact this… wasn't a man at all.

When Aina met the man's gaze, she finally noticed the familiar white irises, flickering with indifference.

There was no doubt, this was an Invalid, a true Invalid, a Variant Invalid.

Aina's heart lost control of any sense of rhythm, accelerating to the point it seemed it might fly from her chest at any moment.

The man's wrists never stopped, slowly cutting the head before it in half. Grotesque white and red liquids spilled outward, pooling around the severed neck and almost overflowing the plate.

Aina's stomach rolled as the Invalid brought the fork to its mouth. Somehow, the immaculate table manners it displayed made the scene several times more difficult to watch. The dichotomy of stateliness and stomach churning sights made one's head spin.

"No comment?" The Invalid finished chewing and spoke these words.

It wiped its lips with a pristine white cloth despite the fact there wasn't a speck of impurity on its face. It seemed completely at ease.

after all these years, I assumed that you would be powerful. But, I didn't think that you would be such a fledgling. I guess as the saying

The Invalid smiled lightly.

didn't know better, it was quite the dazzling smile. All the practice Leonel put in couldn't match to even half the

was speaking, Aina didn't spare them much of a thought. She wasn't aware of how dangerous this region was

mountain range willingly,

its strong bridged nose tilting up in the air. It took a deep sniff, its gaze stirring with the first

"This smell…"

male Invalid

body trembled violently even to the point

male Invalid brushed by

it was appreciating the

would have thought that the sensation was akin to being near a rotting corpse, but in Aina's opinion, it was far worse

was standing next to a pile of shit. But, upon that pile of shit, one had poured the strongest and most invasive perfumes all over the top of it. It was far worse than just a rotting corpse, far worse than someone trying to replace a

What a

move from Aina's hair for a long time.

of a delicacy, the kind of scent that shouldn't appear on this forsaken world. I understand now, you aren't from

to move against her will. From her sides, they were pulled up until they were pressed palm side down on either side of the

Aina saw what sat

long, it started to experience some discoloration, turning into a deeper purple-black. A pungent smell