Dimensional Descent

It was oh so very convenient. The logic was sound and there was nothing wrong with it in a perfectly neutral sort of sense. Taking Little Blackstar with them would definitely guarantee that it would be in Leonel's best interest not to lie to them, after all, he cared about his beast companion surviving, right? It was clever.

However, it was from that point that everything else collapsed.

Leonel owed these people nothing. Why would he leave his little brother with three individuals he had just as little trust in as they did him? On top of that, just because he hadn't said anything about it, didn't mean that Leonel didn't notice their shift in demeanor when learning that Blackstar was a Shadow Sovereign.

Just how convenient was this? They got to force Leonel to hand over someone dear to him, and in their minds, he would likely die seeking revenge and then they would get a convenient and very valuable beast to use or sell in the future.

Was there anything in the world that could be so good?

If it wasn't for Aina stepping forward first, Leonel would have likely already lashed out, his smoldering fury bubbling over to deal with these three before he met the thing that had put his little brother in such a state.

"I'll give you all three seconds to get the fuck out of my sight, or I'll make it so that you can't even if you want to."

Aina's aura pressed down on them from above and it suddenly became obvious why she was the only one who seemed completely unmoved by Leonel's own every time.

"You…" Roxane brows jumped, but the fiery glow of Aina's golden eyes seemed to suppress her impulse to react before it could even manifest.

A menacing darkness loomed over head and Aina's canines grew as delicate black patterns ran over her skin. The oppression seemed to triple in an instant, only growing with every passing moment that went by.

Leonel's gaze shifted from the three before them to the intricate tattoos forming on Aina's toned back. They followed her curves and gave her a bestial sort of aura that was highly enticing.

'Abyssal Panther…'

almost forgotten that Aina had gained this treasure from Terrain and

first unchained herself from her curse and City Lord White had called her a…

ignorant to this, or even what such a title even meant. But, what he did know were two things. First, Aina could do what other humans could not in absorbing beast blood and taking their strengths as her own. This meant she could essentially create any Lineage Factor she

Aina's blood had begun to boil and her Abyssal Panther blood resurfaced, giving

by so fast that it felt like they had been thrust into a pot of boiling oil. Their feet lit and their hearts threatened to jump out

a tunnel to rush into,

injured…' Roxane's nails dug into her palms, soothing herself

were geniuses in their own right, how could they feel good about any of this? Now they could only hope

…

into any Invalids while

and he couldn't seem to

its meaning meant the world to her. Leonel was actually asking about her wellbeing. She didn't think she would

few

up when he heard the words Silver Empire.

As much as he wanted to control everything, there had been certain points where his people had been just fine on their own. His brothers had survived years in the Dimensional Verse without him, Aina had been through countless life and death experiences when he was nowhere

everything through that lens, but there were people around him that had arguably been through worse. Every time he tried

about finding more powerful blood

on doing that for now… I'm very close to grasping a new, evolved Force.

You're still holding back,

still handsome when your face is swollen. I don't mind protecting you for a