Dimensional Descent

It was a few hours before Leonel and Aina returned to the kneeling people. Now that he was looking more deeply, he noticed a few things.

There were less than a hundred of them. Only three of them were in the Ninth Dimension, but there wasn't even a single Eighth Dimensional expert. The second tier of strength started at Anya who was in the Seventh.

There was still more to explore in this world, but Leonel felt that he shouldn't for now. Like he had said, these waters were deeper than he knew, and that Shadow Tail statue was probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Well, it was funny to say that considering what they had just done under that statue. But that was neither here nor there.

Leonel smiled beside himself, his gloomy mood having vanished into the wind. Standing with Aina's hand in his own, he couldn't be bothered to give a damn about anything else any longer. These people were irrelevant to him, and they were only as useful to meet his ends.

Nothing more, nothing less.

He swept a glance and his gaze landed on Anya and Seltin.

"You two, come forward."

Anya, compared to Seltin, was far more obedient. There was a graceful expression on her face and her demeanor was just as Leonel remembered it. Even after being forced to kneel for so long, she didn't lose any of that bearing at all.

Seltin, however, was greatly reluctant. There was a large amount of humiliation hidden deep within her eyes, and it seemed that even now, she felt that she should be above Leonel.

Those were eyes that Leonel remembered quite clearly. Their falling out didn't have to be so terrible, but whether it was Seltin or Leonel, both were endlessly prideful and unwilling to take any losses.

"Why are there so few of you," Leonel asked Anya.

Anya's hands clasped in front of her, gently resting just below her waist. She wore a familiar veil, but her dress was black, in sharp contrast to her flowing white hair.

much like Aina, it

hesitate to respond, seemingly not feeling any sort of

she said softly. "The number that could make it here is very small, and though the Incomplete Worlds were a good chance to increase the number who could

was the only successful experiment, that didn't mean all

were none with the ability to take on the

know it now, the Constellation Families

something that had started as a last ditch effort of the Fawkes had ended

It made you wonder...

that includes your Variant Invalids and

commandeered," Anya said

but he didn't ask about this topic any further. He could trust Aina to protect her mind, but

the Three Fingers Cults was probably an anchor left in the Human World so that the true Cult would have

they took

not abandoned. I can think of dozens of uses for these people that could range from anything from using them as a scapegoat to obfuscate their involvement in the future, all the

thoughts for a moment and then looked

connections with the Three Finger

her teeth

was no choice in the matter. Those that managed to survive were brought

"Survive what."

know... but as you can see, our numbers used to be much larger than this," Seltin all but

nodded. The Umbra family was indeed much larger than this. But now, there were less than a hundred

tried to resist, but even without his Life Tablet, she was no match for him. His grip was like a vice and it had no give at all as she tried to pull

woman's struggle, trying to see

noticed