Dimensional Descent

The tall walls and pillars seemed to sing, a radiating bronze light that shone down.

A singular hall opened up wide to a circular room that spanned an almost 500 meter diameter. Valiant warriors with statues over a 100 meters tall lined the walls, all looking toward a four sided prism of stairs.

At the bottom of these marbled steps, etched with delicate rune patterns and reflecting the bronze lights that shone from all around, a group of bloodied figures lay gasping, barely holding onto their lives with whatever energy they had left.

Those from Valiant Heart would only be stunned by such an outcome.

Two years was simply far too long of a time. No one had ever expected for the Zone to remain open for so long. Realizing that so much time had passed without their geniuses returning, the elders had no choice but to open up the projection once again.

But, what they found was a long and grueling battle. So long, in fact, that they couldn't afford to keep it open continuously and could only check in once a month.

And yet, what they saw time and time again was something that left them numb with shock, and it all seemed to relate back to the only figure who wasn't collapsed on the ground. In fact, she was the only figure that had climbed the four sides stairs and was the only one who stood at the very top.

She was a beauty gorgeous beyond words. Her delicate features carried the valiance of a Valkyrie and the elegance of a Queen. Even while her face beaded with sweat and her long, flowing hair stuck to her cheeks and forehead, her image didn't seem marred in the slightest.

Several cuts and bruises dotted her body, her black, military uniform drenched in dried, flaking blood and still drizzling crimson.

And yet, she stood tall, the only one of her peers that had reached this step.

Raylion, Aphestus, and Sael couldn't even move an inch. It could even be said that the only reason they had reached the end of the hall to begin with

very obvious, very quickly, that this trial wasn't one they could pass alone. As powerful as Aina had

stood here at the peak… And yet, her eyes felt somewhat

you

sudden voice made Aina

absolutely stunned. The appearance of this person, a person many had assumed to have died long ago, was the very

that moment, Aina's head whipped back, only to find Leonel strolling out from the hall she

though he was trying to look as cool as possible, his hands were in his pockets and a casual smile

wore a black tracksuit and a pair of sneakers. His hair was a bright white gold with a faint violet hue that seemed to radiate with its own light. Even his eyes had completely

Leonel wasn't just trying to be cool. The aura he exuded was so confident that it almost made her reach

Leonel, the opposite seemed to be so true that he became like a magnet she was being violently

a single step forward and vanished. When Aina blinked and cleared her vision, he already stood before her, looking down into her eyes with the same care and affection

charisma she couldn't ignore, even his smell was something she couldn't get

were so much that she

last two years broke down into tears, her trusted battle ax falling to the ground as she dove into Leonel's

to speak, she couldn't form the words. Every time she tried, it