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…'

had gained this treasure from Terrain and most importantly, had forgotten exactly what

Leonel's fault… he hadn't been there when Aina first unchained herself from her curse and City Lord White had called

still 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 wanted so long as she had the blood to do it. And second, her existence was a lethal attraction to Invalids, and

her rage, Aina's blood had begun to boil and

of boiling oil. Their feet lit and their hearts threatened to jump out of

picked a tunnel to rush into, unsurprisingly in the direction of

wasn't so injured…' Roxane's nails dug into her palms, soothing herself with these

in their own right, how could they feel good about any

…

into any Invalids while you were away?" Leonel

still faced toward him and he couldn't seem to take his eyes off

its meaning meant the world to her.

I entered a Sub-Dimensional Zone of the Silver Empire a few months ago and ran into some trouble there… But

brows shot up when he heard the words Silver Empire. It

been certain points where his people had been just fine on their own. His brothers had survived years in the Dimensional

for him to only see things he had been through and filter everything through that lens, but there were people around him that had arguably

about finding more powerful

now… I'm very close to grasping a new,

still holding back, huh?" Leonel

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