Dimensional Descent

Leonel shot up, his forehead almost banging against Aina's. But, in a final moment, he managed to come to a grinding halt, suddenly finding that the control he had over his body had reached a truly exaggerated degree.

For a moment, their noses were barely a millimeter apart, their gazes locking. Even with the terrible scent hanging in the air, Leonel almost became too keenly aware of Aina's own delicate fragrance by contrast. He had no idea how she managed to not latch onto the stink the rest of this place had, but maybe he should never challenge a woman's ability to remain clean.

Leonel's expression flickered, his mind suddenly running through everything it had been through in just the last several minutes. His brows furrowed. He had more control over himself now, but he didn't quite know how he should be reacting. His instinct was just to shut it all down again.

Seeing Leonel's expression growing colder, Aina suddenly spoke.

"Your father said…!"

Aina repeated everything Val had said verbatim, not holding back. She thought about taking the edge off of the words, but in the end, she decided against it. She thought that with the relationship Leonel had with his father, maybe the rawest form of what he had said was exactly what Leonel needed to hear.

Leonel was astonished, not knowing what to say for a long time.

"… My dad was here?"

Leonel blinked as Aina nodded. He sent his mind into the Segmented Cube and he did indeed find that Lab 1 was surrounded from all sides by a barrier. Even without trying, he knew that he didn't have a single chance at even cracking it, a calculation that he was surprised his mind could even accomplish, let alone complete so quickly.

him and the peak of the Dimensional Verse was. No, this couldn't even be considered the peak of the Verse at all. At

the information that his dad had been here was enough to paint the picture. To be able to so casually enter

smiled, his

by this. She couldn't truly understand. The words Leonel's father had spoken might seem benign from a certain perspective, but from another… They were the kind of words Leonel would hate to

though he had always been there for her. This was why she had resolved that no matter what happened between now and the future,

this. It was just her way of showing that she had no intention of giving up on him. Maybe it wasn't the perfect method, but they were ultimately still young and she had spent most of her life without a normal range of

words that triggered all of this, but that only made it

hated. His father's words had doubted him, belittled him, and even put him in his place without care or reserve for his face.

when she said similar things, she had only warned Leonel that the Dimensional Verse wasn't the kind of place that could be underestimated… She didn't want him to put his life on the line just for the sake of saving people he

that it

no one in his life and Leonel respected and adored more than his father. She had thought that because of how Leonel had practically worshipped the ground she walked on, that she could speak

certain respect, she wasn't wrong. But, it was always a matter of relativity. The things that Val could say to Leonel weren't the sort of things that she

had put a lot of effort into winning her heart, years, even. By this point, she would be lying if she said that she cared for anyone

because her relationship with her father wasn't nearly as good as the one Leonel shared with his own, but… There was a certain level of love that blood ties could form that other forms

yet to reach that level for

his very bones. He had a relentless drive to win, he felt his opinion was more likely than not the right way to go, and he felt that questioning and doubting