Dimensional Descent

Those in the arena found it difficult to wrap their heads around what had just happened. They had all thought that some knight in shining armor was planning on swooping in, yet after 'saving' Sael, this mysterious person hadn't done anything else.

No one was sure how this person appeared, or how they even managed to stop Aphestus' furious kick without suffering severely for it. It was as though he had simply teleported to the location.

Of course, there were some who made the connection between this mysterious person and the posters that had been recently taken down. By extension, they also realized that it was this young man who was meant to be considered their public enemy at the moment.

But, this only made things more confusing.

On the surface, it made sense. Since Valiant Hall and this young man were in cahoots from the very beginning, didn't it make sense for him to save Sael?

But, on a deeper level, this was pure nonsense. Raylion had painted a much different picture. The narrative he had formed wasn't one of mutual interest, but rather one of a man with a powerful background preying on the corruption of Valiant Hall.

If this latter story was the truth… Would the arrogant young master described ever care to save anyone useless to him? In fact, shouldn't he be raging about since his name being swept through the mud?

The odd shift in the atmosphere occurred without a single word being exchanged. But, what was done was done. The moment Sael was unable to battle, Hero Peak had already won and the changes they wanted to implement to Valiant Heart Mountain would soon rule all of their lives.

Yet, in the moment he should have been basking in his victory, Raylion's expressionless gaze flickered.

Only the well learned, thoughtful, and intelligent would be able to reach the second layer of analysis needed to understand the underlying oddity of Leonel's actions. The vast majority of people were not this and still felt that Leonel had acted because he was allied with Valiant Hall.

But, the support of such people was meaningless to Raylion. Such fools who could be so easily swayed could just as easily be swayed in a new direction tomorrow.

…

to walk through the empty streets of the

enraged expression was hidden beneath her mask, Leonel

your emotions on them."

thanks for his efforts, he received

blood when someone poked at Aina, yet now

much. In fact, he was almost happy it happened. He found this to be much more interesting. He could

that Aina was still upset, though,

those circumstances. Proving my strength

and destroy King of Ores faction? What infuriated the people most was my sense of superiority, so how would proving my superiority all the more help

on its head, especially since I had no legal pathway to participate in these

lip beneath her mask, knowing

worst case, he could just

reasons to be smiling." Aina finally

smiling? They're about to give me exactly what I

side of Leonel's face

about it, Hero Peak has already effectively been the ruler of the Peaks for a long time now. They control 20% of the resources just like Valiant Hall does and no one can challenge their position due to their apparently undefeatable

the power to sway the politics of Valiant Heart Mountain any way they please. And, those

Peak possibly want? Where is there more

narrowed. "Weaken the

Valiant Hall's position. What would that do for them? They already control much of everything without the forced label of