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.

that you would be powerful. But, I didn't think that you would be such a fledgling.

The Invalid smiled lightly.

know better, it was quite the dazzling smile. All the practice Leonel put in couldn't match to even half the charm the male Invalid was currently projecting.

was speaking, Aina didn't spare them much of a thought. She wasn't aware of how dangerous this region was before she entered. Had she, she would likely understand more of the male

to this mountain range willingly, let alone to the point of entering its home and travelling so deeply into its

a deep sniff, its

"This smell…"

male Invalid

maintain distance, but her movements were completely out of her control. Her body trembled

nose of the male Invalid brushed by Aina's hair and

took a pause as though it was appreciating the scent of roses, completely unbothered by Aina's near

an Invalid so close, Aina, too, could smell it. One would have thought that the sensation was akin to being near a rotting corpse, but in Aina's

had poured the strongest and most invasive perfumes all over the top of it.

a

move from Aina's hair for a long time. It was as though it couldn't sense

of scent that shouldn't appear on this forsaken world.

that moment, Aina's hands began to move against her will. From her sides, they were pulled up until they were pressed palm side down on either side of the

at that moment that Aina saw what sat in front of

started to experience some discoloration, turning into a deeper purple-black.