Dimensional Descent

Aina stood with her back to Nigmir's fallen body. Though one couldn't see her face, the cold look one could see through the slits in her mask were enough to send shivers down one's spine.

The contrast between Leonel and Aina was too drastic. There was no mercy, no hesitation, there wasn't even a small chance. The moment Nigmir showed such signs to her, she cut him down where he stood.

At that moment, Aina was pissed. She wasn't only pissed at the members of Bear Rose, she was pissed at Leonel too. He might think it was fine to forgive your enemies like this, but how was she supposed to react when a boorish brute who just tried to kill her man was let off so easily?

It was always easiest for the victim to forgive, but what about those who cared for the victim? Was she supposed to let things go too?

Aina felt that she was maybe too agitated, but the feeling was stifling. She didn't know how many times she had to tell Leonel to stop showing mercy like this. She didn't know when he'd finally realize that a hint of mercy shown today could easily come back to bite him the next. It was infuriating to the point she didn't even want to look at him right now.

If it wasn't for Nigmir coming in a timely fashion to give her something to vent on, she might have exploded already.

The volatile feelings in her chest rampaged around. And now, she had to wait ten minutes for the next victim.

Aina herself hated that she reacted so violently. She found it harder and harder to keep her cool when things were related to Leonel, a problem he ironically had the same issue with though toward her.

But, compared to Leonel who only wanted to protect her, Aina found some of Leonel's actions deeply frustrating sometimes.

she knew it was a part of Leonel's larger scheme, a scheme that was working out perfectly now. But what was the point in sparing Senior Lu back then? And

Aina's amber eyes tinged

reached out a hand and made a snatching motion toward Nigmir's corpse. What happened

that had been pooling shot toward a single point, forming into a ball

Nigmir's body dispelled into the wind like ash, floating away like meaningless

kind of scene one would never forget in

mind of its own, hovering there and reflecting the now high sunlight. It acted as a silent reminder of the scene they

deepened. But in the

he had yet to tell her than he loved her. Maybe it was because he didn't know what those words meant, or maybe it was because he still wasn't sure if he

relationship had managed to jump over many hurdles. But, the one that had yet

the heart of another human being was forever

had always been. The gentle, graceful young woman he had known in school was nothing but a mask she wore,

protect her friends, but to show him that the girl he thought he liked wasn't her at all. She took this action even though she knew it would alienate not only him, but

one that he hadn't recovered from even now. Maybe he had only gotten better at ignoring

that he was very good at

didn't believe that he could stand to his grandfather's ideology without feeling as though

liked Aina enough to ignore even such a blatant conflict… a core ideology that left