Dimensional Descent

James' clenched his jaw, taking a strong gulp as though he was forcing his heart back down.

"... He's still the same, directing everyone around like he already knows what they'll do," James mumbled.

Aina smiled in understanding. Let alone James and the others, there were too many things that Leonel didn't explain even to her. If James took offense to this, there wasn't really much she could do, she would just have to reveal their other trump cards ahead of time. The trouble with that, though, was that it would make the Heir Wars far more difficult.

However, at that moment, James smiled.

"Do you know what they call a quarterback's tight end in football?" James looked Aina in the eyes, his tears somewhat glistening but quickly evaporating away beneath a fiery blaze.

Aina blinked before her smile brightened. "The ultimate safety blanket."

She had been following Leonel's games for years and had never missed a single one. Not only did she know all the rules of the game, when it came to the intricacies and the culture around it, she probably dwarfed even some of the players themselves.

When James heard this his head raised to the skies and he erupted with a laughter that drowned out even the cries of the Brazingers. It boomed with a vibrant carefreeness, surging like a rising ocean tide and drowning out everything.

With a leap, he soared into the skies, his foot landing on an energy shield platform that he shot like a canon off of, soaring over the battle between Maia and Galaeron with the confidence of a man who felt he could have participated in it if he so chose.

Aina watched this with a smile. It was a little white lie, and considering how well James knew Leonel, he probably knew this as well. But as Leonel's Queen, there were some things that she felt she had to do for him.

best friend, and there was a reason for that. Some relationships couldn't

had set the probability of James making an appearance at 30%. He felt that the Cloud Race would be a bar that he wouldn't allow himself to cross, and he was correct

percentage to be much higher, not for any other reason than

distant from the world, more detached, more indifferent. Even when his brothers had returned to his side, they had been separated for so many years

half a brain in him, but he was probably the person who understood Leonel the most outside of Aina herself, and maybe

time, James and Leonel were more similar than it seemed. Just considering their fathers... with how much Leonel loved his own,

meant the most, the more dissimilar in, ironically, what was also the

take the steps to fix their relationship on their own,

watching James dive into the battle and

**

idea what Aina had done, but at the moment he was too

but he couldn't seem to gather up enough territories. No random treasure or beast territories were spawning, and even after a

barrier, but it blocked him from entry. He had come across such a thing before, so he just assumed

another, and it was once again

seemed to only be one conclusion: there were just three contestants left, while