Dimensional Descent

Leonel didn't look in the direction he sent his volley of attacks, his focus still concentrated on Keiza. Despite what seemed like disregard, he found this woman to be very dangerous and he didn't like the idea of turning his back on her.

'She's flying but she hasn't flown very high… There's probably a good reason for that.'

Leonel made a mental note of this. He, too, could fly. But, he hadn't done so because he needed to escort everyone else. Obviously, though, from what it seemed here, there had to be some hidden danger in taking that route. Leonel didn't believe that there weren't Cursed Flying beasts, they were just lucky that there was a thick canopy of trees here, or else maybe they would have to deal with attacks from the sky as well.

Leonel suddenly felt his connection with Aina waver, causing his expression to shift.

'I didn't account for that. There must be a great strain on her mind right now to not only assimilate Yuri's senses but then also pass them off to me. I can't press this situation anymore.'

Aina hadn't said a word from start to finish. In fact, even now, she still protected Leonel's back, swinging her ax and ensuring that no Cursed Beasts could attack from the back.

Seeing such a scene, Leonel didn't hesitate any longer. Not sparing Keiza another glance, he turned and retreated, wrapping an arm around Aina's waist as his Universal Force flourished. Almost the instant he did, Aina weakly wobbled, but his grip was firm.

Keiza found herself caught off guard again before clicking her tongue.

"Asking me such intimate questions and then running off with another girl. How rude."

were still on their backfoot in this situation due to

though he hadn't heard a thing, heavy droplets of molten gold becoming his

Blackstar. By this point, the safe zone could be seen with the naked eye. A

was heavy and labored. She had clearly pushed herself very hard. Since the safe

had made a final push

met Yuri's gaze. The latter was silent and didn't have much of an expression right now at all. In fact, she

ignorant and made

while to realize that Leonel was actually speaking to her. But, even after she did realize this, she didn't know how to respond. The result was her mouth hanging open for a moment, but

He apologized to her?

had a lot of anger for him and couldn't stand to explain

her. If Aina's best friend didn't always have her back even when the world was

only reason Leonel hadn't tried to see things from Yuri's perspective earlier was because she hadn't explicitly told

a habit ingrained into her by Miel to always hold back her true strength. In reality, even the 100 meter estimate she had given Leonel was a lie, that was just a fraction of her true range even in this environment. It wasn't until she realized

roundabout way to inform Leonel was also because of her habit of hiding herself. Not everything she did was from a malicious or petty view. It was just that Leonel didn't know about her past and

of those things… And still chose Leonel's side. It was like she had drawn a hard line in the sand. It was either Yuri accept

was trying to process when Leonel so suddenly did